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Apple Is Not Such a Freedom Fighter In China (latimes.com)
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?
Apple is claiming a moral highground as a company - if they were worried about US citizens they wouldn't do a lot of the things they do. I don't see how liberties of the two companies are relevant to the highground they're claiming.
Slave labor? No. The journalist who reported that was outed as a fraud. He essentially wished it would be true, and then made up the story. The Western press ate it up...the retraction didn't get much press for obvious reasons.
The labor conditions in China are different, shock, horror. They don't comply with American laws for some bizarre reason. Calling it slave labor is stupid, but what can men do against such reckless hate?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Apple really does have the high ground.
And don't forget the growing pile of Amicus Briefs, most significantly, even from their competitors.
Even Microsoft is smart enough to file one, even after their High Priest (Gates) came out and publically stuck his foot in his mouth about the subject.