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Apple, Google CEOs Bring Star Power as China Promotes Censorship (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the too-big-to-lose dept.

An anonymous reader shares a Bloomberg report: Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai made their first appearances at China's World Internet Conference, bringing star power to a gathering the Chinese government uses to promote its strategy of tight controls online. Apple's chief executive officer gave a surprise keynote at the opening ceremony on Sunday, calling for future internet and AI technologies to be infused with privacy, security and humanity. The same day, one of China's most-senior officials called for more aggressive government involvement online to combat terrorism and criminals. Wang Huning, one of seven men on China's top decision-making body, even called for a global response team to go well beyond its borders. It was Cook's second appearance in China in two months, following a meeting with President Xi Jinping in October. The iPhone maker has most of its products manufactured in the country and is trying to regain market share in smartphones against local competitors such as Huawei. "The theme of this conference -- developing a digital economy for openness and shared benefits -- is a vision we at Apple share," Cook said. "We are proud to have worked alongside many of our partners in China to help build a community that will join a common future in cyberspace."

38 comments

  1. Cyberspace? by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did he really say cyberspace? Is it 2004?

    1. Re:Cyberspace? by swb · · Score: 1

      Maybe it was a reverse translation problem. Cook said something that translated into Chinese translates most closely back as "cyberspace".

      Is it really that awkward of a term? I mean they're all awkward, and at least that one has been around for a while and isn't the latest marketing buzzword.

    2. Re:Cyberspace? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 0

      Is it 2004?

      Well if it is, I'm sure Steve Jobs is about to have a revelation about the wonders of modern medicine.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:Cyberspace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I sybered your post

    4. Re:Cyberspace? by Megol · · Score: 1

      It isn't the '90s (the time when it was most popular IIRC) but what's wrong using that rather than any new term describing the same thing?

    5. Re: Cyberspace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 FUNNAY

    6. Re:Cyberspace? by jetkust · · Score: 0

      The rest of what he was saying was gibberish, so why not throw a cyberspace in there?

    7. Re:Cyberspace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cyberspace is the generally accepted translation when the Chinese government talks about the internet. You hear this term quite often here in China in English publications.

  2. Vote Republica because they are the RED STAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dishdirt t-shirt? no problem.

  3. Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by CajunArson · · Score: -1

    Just remember how hypocritical and disingenuous they are the next time they put on an act of "standing up" to big mean OMG Hitler-Trump.

    You know the guy who, even in the strawman fantasy world constructed for him by good liberals, would qualify as the most radical human rights reformer in over 5,000 years of Chinese history if he were in China.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    1. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Megol · · Score: 1

      Are you trying to say something? Because your post seems to be lacking content.

    2. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by hyades1 · · Score: 2

      Haven't you figured it out yet? As a market, America is dying. Too much wealth at the top and too many people spiralling down into poverty. How many cell phones can you sell to the 1%? How many cars? CEO's stand up to Trump because he has little to offer and even less to threaten with.

      Smart corporations are positioning themselves to get first crack at new, developing markets in the Third World. China's emerging middle class will be enormous, and it will have money to spend on technology. Same with India. If getting access means kissing some totalitarian buttock every now and again...well, it's a small price to pay.

      What's truly pathetic, though, is that so many US workers believe their jobs will come back if only the government cuts corporate taxes a bit more. And so many Americans still think their country is a desirable place to do business.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    3. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by BlueStrat · · Score: 0

      Are you trying to say something? Because your post seems to be lacking content.

      To be fair to the OP, you'd first have to possess the ability to think outside the fantasy ideological/political cognitive frameworks that you've been fed and by all appearances swallowed hook, line, and sinker without verifying their viability or accuracy.

      An ability you sadly appear to lack based on your reply to the OP.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    4. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lmao shitlibs ur all gonna die

    5. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China's emerging middle class will be enormous, and it will have money to spend on technology. Same with India. If getting access means kissing some totalitarian buttock every now and again...well, it's a small price to pay.

      The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

      I wish Tim Cook didn't pretend he and Apple were so noble and unselfish.

    6. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      As a market, America is dying. Too much wealth at the top and too many people spiralling down into poverty. How many cell phones can you sell to the 1%?

      Really? Seriously??

      Do you really see it as THAT bad in the US?

      I mean, where do you live man?

      Nowhere that I go or live, do I see things as dire as you seem to pronounce them to be.

      I see plenty of thriving middle class neighborhood, lots of folks out shopping, buying cell phones and products, I see people having kids (and seemingly able to afford them)....the private schools certainly haven't dried up and blown away....

      And NONE of these people are in the 1% class.

      I just don't see where you see all this poverty that is overtaking America.

      Agan..where do you live that you see it that bad?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    7. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Comfy up there? Because should American split into a have and have-not society, it will be civil war after civil unrest when people go hungry. And that's when it goes to the shitter. You might be the top 1%, but that doesn't mean someone wont pull your ass down to the ground to make a statement. But yeah, those stupid back-woods trump voting morons...they should just eat dirt...right?

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    8. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Miles_O'Toole · · Score: 1

      "Since economists first began keeping track in 1970, every decade has ended with fewer people in the middle class than at the start. And 2015 was the first year on record when Americans in the middle-income bracket did not make up the majority of the country: that is, those above and below the middle class (rich and poor combined) make up half the population..."

      https://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/484941939/a-portrait-of-americas-middle-class-by-the-numbers

      Just because you don't know where to look, or how, doesn't mean it isn't happening. But hey, you just went to the mall and there were people there, so it's all good.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
    9. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only "have-have not" distinction in any American civil war will be those with the guns and those without the guns. Should be over in a few days. And enough with your %1 whining. Stop projecting your failed life choices on others and expecting the world to carry your dead weight. And China operates with a .000001% holding all the wealth and they have ways of dealing with anyone making public complaints. And you may want to look a little deeper when comparing the US economy to China's. Look at the per-capita figures and not the GDP figures. China is also heavily dependent on oil and food imports. Their manufacturing industry has suffered a decline in their manufacturing growth to other small Asian countries able to pay lower wages than China does. And the businessmen in China are just like the businessmen all over the world. They are in business to make profits and will never let nationalism stand in the way. The US is the mecca of a business friendly state. Corporate taxes in China hover around 40%, not including the bribes of course. The US offers cheaper energy costs, real estate, nominal government interference, educated work force, and the elimination of the shipping costs incurred when shipping products from China to the US. China's economy was built upon one thing. Cheap labor. Now the worm has turned and all the other associated costs of doing business far exceed the labor costs. China has a lot of state owned industries but the majority of the businesses are private corporations whose only goal is earning profits.

      And Apple will do anything China tells them to do in order to sell their products in China. How nice of their puppet in chief to g all the way over to China so he can bend over in person all for the sake of market percentages. And since Apple has thoughtfully placed all their manufacturing in China who knows what kind of features China's government has demanded Apple include in their products?

    10. Re: Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Creepy fake-progressive capitalists sure do love totalitarian restrictions on speech.

    11. Re: Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Almost none of us are really in the middle class, part of the borgiosie. "Middle class" in America just a euphemism for "educated working class". Stop working and we die.

    12. Re:Remember that when they "Stand Up" to Trump by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      The upper middle class became rich, and the poor didn't go anywhere.

      Look at a chart with time on the X axis and income on the Y and you'll see. The middle class is shrinking because half the boats are rising. The gap between rich and poor is getting wider.

  4. Censorship and Oppression are A-OKAY for S Valley by Jarwulf · · Score: 0

    Censorship, Oppression, and Omnipresent Government Control, in the US, China, and globally are just fine but don't you dare refuse to bake a cake for a SSM wedding! Some lines cannot be crossed.

  5. Aren't you happy to have a corporate conscience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't this so much better than free will, and personal freedoms?

    We have famous star CEOs now, like TIM COOK and MARK ZUCKLEBERG to tell us what is right and what is wrong, and to punish us for not voting the way they wanted.

    Silicon valley lost their man in the white house? Fuck it! We're on China's side now!

    (treason season)

  6. apple can just pull out and make iphone's in usa by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    apple can just pull out and make iphone's in usa.

    Just the idea of doing that can make china change.

  7. Such bravery by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 2

    I mean seriously, what a crock of shit. I've been phasing Google out of my life and Apple too. Good riddance.

    1. Re:Such bravery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Me too, i've gone fully fucking stallmanite. A turn I did not expect, but I guess such an extreme change is an inevitable reaction to the opposite extreme. I know not everyone can do this out of practicality, but I highly recommend it if you can, so much control, no having to take shit from companies and them stealing your time, money, privacy and respect... fuck them.

  8. Re:Censorship and Oppression are A-OKAY for S Vall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    God damn for a straight guy you sure are a WHINY CAKE LOVING FAGGOT.

  9. Re:apple can just pull out and make iphone's in us by Megol · · Score: 1

    Now that's a way to look at it. Completely crazy way but still...

  10. Re:apple can just pull out and make iphone's in us by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    apple can just pull out and make iphone's in usa.

    of course they can... but that would cost money.

    Just the idea of doing that can make china change.

    Nope! First of all, "China" doesn't make much money for their involvement in producing Apple products. Secondly, a shitload of other things are made in China so it's not a big deal.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  11. Now that Tim is part of the cabal.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you expect anything else from Tim?? Look at hollywood and then then look closely at him again.

  12. Remember when trade was going to force China to 'o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "LOL. Human rights are funny!"
    - Tim Cook

  13. Re:apple can just pull out and make iphone's in us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only problem is I think they want to make a profit...

  14. Re: Censorship and Oppression are A-OKAY for S Val by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because allowing businesses to discriminate against whole classes of people is a GOOD thing? Fuck you cunt. Go back to India where you belong.

  15. Help find peaceful protesters? by myid · · Score: 0

    Tim Cook didn't want to help the FBI find possible accomplices to Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. But Apple will help the Chinese government have "more aggressive government involvement online to combat terrorism and criminals".

    If there were enough profit for Apple, I wonder if Cook would help the Chinese government track down peaceful protesters like Liu Xiaobo. I hope not. RIP, Liu Xiaobo. 1955-2017.

  16. Apple and China by neutrino38 · · Score: 0

    Both are very fond of control and walled gardens.

  17. Re: Censorship and Oppression are A-OKAY for S Va by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently the freedom to force others to endorse a lifestyle of sodomy is more important than freedom of speech.

  18. Re:apple can just pull out and make iphone's in us by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    iPhone is assembled in Taiwan. You know, the "other" China. Not the one with censorship.
    Also the Apple custom chips are made in Taiwan. Also known as the Republic of China.