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Apple Is Not Such a Freedom Fighter In China (latimes.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the protecting-us-or-not dept.

mi writes: Though loudly resisting the American government's attempts to make it help break into the phone of a dead scumbag, Apple is very accommodating of the Chinese government's attempts to keep tabs on the citizenry's communications. Apple has censored apps that wouldn't pass muster with the Chinese government, moved local user data onto servers operated by the state-owned China Telecom, and submitted to Chinese audits. According to James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, "I can't imagine the Chinese would tolerate end-to-end encryption or a refusal to cooperate with their police, particularly in a terrorism case." Why the accommodation there?

3 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. Apple ain't a freedom fighter at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    At best, they're pretending to be a freedom fighter.

    And it'll fool the same folks that bought Google's "Don't be evil" bullshit.

    1. Re:Apple ain't a freedom fighter at all by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the countries in which they operate. Apples argument against the FBI subpoena is not that it is wrong, but that it is illegal. In China, they cannot make that argument. China is an authoritarian country, and that is not something that is going to be changed by Apple, or any other American corporation. It is not their role to "fix" China. The Chinese people need to do that for themselves.

  2. Re:I'm *NOT* an Apple supporter by any means... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple's moral high ground is irrelevant. They are protecting the rights of their customers in this instance, at great expense, and if their motives are not snow-white, then that does not invalidate their actions. They are being drafted, as a company, to produce work for free to the united states government, which will coincidentally do what is probably a great deal of harm to their user base. They have cooperated with every lawful court order and it is only the unlawful one they are objecting to.

    Captcha: Bugged. Because just reading your slashdot posts isn't enough for Uncle Sam.