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Apple Refused China Request For Source Code In Last Two Years: Lawyer (reuters.com)
Dustin Volz, reporting for Reuters: Apple has been asked by Chinese authorities within the last two years to hand over its source code but refused to do so, the company's top lawyer told U.S. lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday. Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell made the statement in response to a line of attack from law enforcement officials who have attempted to portray Apple as complicit in handing over information to Chinese authorities for business reasons while refusing to cooperate with U.S. requests for access to private data in criminal investigations. Apple and the FBI returned to Washington to testify before lawmakers about their heated disagreement over law enforcement access to encrypted devices, highlighted in the case of a locked iPhone linked to a gunman in last December's Islamist militant-inspired shootings in San Bernardino, California. Earlier in the hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, Captain Charles Cohen, commander in the Indiana State Police, repeated the suggestion that Apple has quietly cooperated with Beijing. But when pressed by Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, for the source of that claim, Cohen only cited news reports. "That takes my breath away," a visibly frustrated Eshoo said. "That is a huge allegation."In some other Apple news, the Cupertino-based company complied with 80% of U.S. law enforcement requests in the second half of 2015, its just released transparency report shows. U.S. law enforcement asked Apple for information 4,000 times, covering 16,112 devices in the second half of 2015.
In my mind, handing over source code might be less damaging than handing over encryption keys, which is what the DOJ was suggesting at one point in their brief/response to the All Writs Order...
China routinely ignores copyright when it suits them. If Apple was to hand over the source code, I suspect that there would be, just a few months later, *EXACT* iPhone "clones" complete with 100% compatible operating system, except jail-broken of course, available for $100 each.
And then poof -- Apple is out of business.
And they would sport names such as "Arple IF-one" to really, really, make you wince. Right now, China is producing cars that look like BMWs, for domestic use within China. China is making $30 ham-radios that are clones of a Kenwood design, and the Kenwood is a $150 radio.
How are you going to compete with that? They do almost zero R&D, and then make cheap copies of existing products using the existing R&D of some other firm. When we get to the point of China making everything and all other companies are out of business, expect to see no innovation for decades that follow.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
We went through this with Japan, eventually the people/companies that become successful start making their own stuff because it's easier.
Regardless if they get there over time without cheating or cheat their way, eventually we are going to have to face a competition of competent Chinese businesses that can do the same things as the rest of the world. They are just shaving some time off of that process.
How are you going to compete with that? They do almost zero R&D, and then make cheap copies of existing products using the existing R&D of some other firm. When we get to the point of China making everything and all other companies are out of business, expect to see no innovation for decades that follow.
Thats pretty much standard for any country trying to catch up to more advanced industrial nations. The US did it when we began industrializing and once we had enough homegrown companies developing technology we all of a sudden became big fans of patent and copyright protection. Once people start stealing form China they'll come around as well.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Well, your "something" was wrong, in no small part due to the fact that the OP was right.
If you don't do your own R&D, you'll never be able to produce anything *original*.
If you don't do your own R&D, your competitors will *always* make it to market first, so you give up 'first mover' advantage.
Those two reasons (among many others) are how companies build market share.