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Nobody needs to operate in China. That's the thing that's being overlooked. Apple made a choice to operate there - and would have still been the world's most v
by Alupis 3y ago
Nobody needs to operate in China. That's the thing that's being overlooked.
Apple made a choice to operate there - and would have still been the world's most valued company regardless.
So, Apple's choice was to sell-out their privacy and security credentials to make more money - counting on their other large markets (ie. the US) not paying close enough attention to see the blatant hypocrisy.
"Security and privacy are great - unless we can make more money selling off your security and privacy to oppressive government regimes!"
Somehow that just doesn't have a catchy marketing ring to it...
So now there's precedent that Apple will violate everything they stand for if a large enough market demands it. What happens when the US government decides to place Apple in the crosshairs for not "helping catch terrorists" or something? Will Apple sell out too? Why not?
- function_seven 3y agoI agree with all of this. Though I do believe Apple would put up a fight—if it comes down to it they’d follow the law and keep selling phones. We have examples of this from previous attempts to weaken encryption. The FBI’s San Bernardino case being the most memorable one for me.
- Alupis 3y agoWhile a good example, that was in 2015. There haven't been very many (or any?) public challenges since - which does make one wonder... Apple could simultaneously backdoor their devices while also keep them secure from anyone but the government with a warrant. These things are not mutually exclusive. The China precedent is troubling - to say the least.
- condwanaland 3y agoYou cannot backdoor a device in such a way that only 'certain' people can access it. Once that door is there, people will find an exploit it. The only way to be completely secure is never build the door in the first place.
- sneak 3y agoYou are wrong. Despite some recent movements to produce iPhones in other places, approximately 100% of all iPhones are made in China. Without China, there is no iPhone, and there is no Apple. Apple, presently, needs to operate in China. They have them by the balls. Compliance with CCP demands is non-optional. This may change in the future. Today it is 100% true.
- Alupis 3y agoSo you're claiming it's not possible to produce an iPhone in any other country besides China? That seems incredibly dubious. Who forced Apple to manufacturer iPhones in China? Nobody.
- User23 3y agoUS and European political leadership who made manufacturing unaffordable domestically. It will take about five years optimistically to build that capability.
- jongjong 3y agoIt's the global debt-based fiat monetary system. It squeezes workers hard and turns every industry into a winner-takes-all industry since workers are so poor they can only afford the cheapest of the cheap. In the old days, a business could afford to continue to operate and thrive even if they weren't necessarily number one at everything... People had enough surplus income to not worry about spending a bit more for some local product even if it wasn't necessarily the best value for money. Also consumers were not so insanely well attuned to squeezing every penny as they are today (due to lower financial stress levels) and this created more room for new businesses to compete with incumbents. It's the effect of the monetary system squeezing the masses hard which forces everyone to buy the cheapest things and it created a kind of technological shrinkflationary race to the bottom.
- User23 3y agoYou’re correct of course. Even so it’s worth noting that you could also call it the global asset based monetary system. Credits and debits are just two sides of the ledger. In my mind, and definitely informed by my attraction to medieval Catholic philosophy, the problem isn’t really debt but rather usury.