4 ms·

The "more to the story" is that this is required by Chinese law, as explained by the article: > In a statement, Apple said it had to comply with recently intro

The "more to the story" is that this is required by Chinese law, as explained by the article: > In a statement, Apple said it had to comply with recently introduced Chinese laws that require cloud services offered to Chinese citizens be operated by Chinese companies and that the data be stored in China. It said that while the company’s values don’t change in different parts of the world, it is subject to each country’s laws.

zeroname 8y ago
Replace the word "China" with "Sweden" and it starts sounding like reasonable policy.
- smsm42 8y ago
  No it does not. Sweden probably is less likely to horribly abuse the data to incarcerate and execute citizens for disagreeing with the government, but the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. Swedish government might not be abusing this control right now, but nobody can guarantee it won't in 15 years.
  - zeroname 8y ago
    > ...the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. That's one-sided thinking. The goal may well be to make the data not subject to the (lack of) control of a foreign state, namely the United States in this case, but any foreign state in the general case. In fact the EU already mandates similar restrictions for data of EU citizens and special provisions for EU-US data transfers: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/eu-us-data-transfers_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data...
    - smsm42 8y ago
      > That's one-sided thinking. Yes, one side I am interested in is my side. If I want to store my data in a different jurisdiction, because it is currently less interested in abusing my rights than the one my body physically resides in, I should have that option. > In fact the EU already mandates similar restrictions for data of EU citizens That's exactly my point. EU government might be currently less interested in explicit human rights violations than Chinese government, but their pattern of behavior is the same - "we own everything about our subjects, and won't let anybody - including subjects themselves - do anything to escape our control".
  - mr_toad 8y ago
    > the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. The real goal is just as likely to be economic - a way to protect local businesses without actually calling it protectionism.
    - smsm42 8y ago
      It's probably both. But experience shows control is much more important to the state than the well-being of any businesses.
Crontab 8y ago
Indeed, this article also could have been titled "Apple obeys the law of countries that it does business in", but it wouldn't have been as attention getting.

zeroname 8y ago

Replace the word "China" with "Sweden" and it starts sounding like reasonable policy.

smsm42 8y ago
No it does not. Sweden probably is less likely to horribly abuse the data to incarcerate and execute citizens for disagreeing with the government, but the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. Swedish government might not be abusing this control right now, but nobody can guarantee it won't in 15 years.
- zeroname 8y ago
  > ...the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. That's one-sided thinking. The goal may well be to make the data not subject to the (lack of) control of a foreign state, namely the United States in this case, but any foreign state in the general case. In fact the EU already mandates similar restrictions for data of EU citizens and special provisions for EU-US data transfers: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/eu-us-data-transfers_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data...
  - smsm42 8y ago
    > That's one-sided thinking. Yes, one side I am interested in is my side. If I want to store my data in a different jurisdiction, because it is currently less interested in abusing my rights than the one my body physically resides in, I should have that option. > In fact the EU already mandates similar restrictions for data of EU citizens That's exactly my point. EU government might be currently less interested in explicit human rights violations than Chinese government, but their pattern of behavior is the same - "we own everything about our subjects, and won't let anybody - including subjects themselves - do anything to escape our control".
- mr_toad 8y ago
  > the goal of the policy would be the same - to make all data about the person subject to the state's control. The real goal is just as likely to be economic - a way to protect local businesses without actually calling it protectionism.
  - smsm42 8y ago
    It's probably both. But experience shows control is much more important to the state than the well-being of any businesses.

Crontab 8y ago

Indeed, this article also could have been titled "Apple obeys the law of countries that it does business in", but it wouldn't have been as attention getting.