“U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Silicon Valley bearing gifts for Tim Cook: A seal of approval for Apple Pay,” Tim Higgins and Elizabeth Dexheimer report for Bloomberg.
“The White House announced Friday that Apple Inc.’s mobile-payment system will be enabled for users of federal-payment cards, including Social Security and veterans benefits that are paid out via debit cards. The deal includes the Direct Express payment network and government cards issued through GSA SmartPay, which handles more than 87.4 million transaction worth $26.4 billion each year, according to the General Services Administration,” Higgins and Dexheimer report. “‘It has big promotional value”’for Apple, Richard Crone, chief executive officer of Crone Consulting LLC, said. ‘It makes it look like the federal government is endorsing Apple Pay.’ …On Friday, Cook said Apple Pay will become available in September for many transactions with the federal government, such as at national parks.”
“Obama arrives in Silicon Valley at a time when his administration’s relationship with technology and Web companies has grown frosty over government spying and the privacy rights of their users and customers. Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer, and Google Inc.’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt all were invited but won’t attend the conference at Stanford University, according to the companies,” Higgins and Dexheimer report. “The company announced that it would no longer be able to access data, such as photos, stored on devices running its newest mobile operating system called iOS 8. The changes attracted criticism from James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, Cook didn’t give up anything important (back doors, encryption keys) for that seal of approval. We trust he did not.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. – Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961
Visit the Apple-backed reformgovernmentsurveillance.com today.
Wal-Mart, CVS, don’t let the door hit on your way out…
“MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, Cook didn’t give up anything important (back doors, encryption keys) for that seal of approval. We trust he did not.”
Why would MDN make such a dumb statement with so many undertones? Tt was the other guy, Bush that open the gates with the Patriot act.
MDN’s Take merely voices what immediately crosses the minds of the sane.
By the way, from the left-leaning NBC News:
Spying on Americans has increased 1000% during the Obama administration.
When you criticize Obama you often make sense. When you hold up Republicans as great managers of our country is when you are at your looniest.
Republicans are not the great managers of the country. Not by a long shot. Simply the lesser of two evils, or the better of two competing ideologies.
What, you now believe NBC? Yes, they using the Patriot act as intended. The world of today with an unstable middle east is different from the days before the patriot act which had a much more stable middle east. That’s what invading a country gets you. Thanks Bush.
The Patriot Act and all the baggage it brings with it transcends both parties. After 9/11 and the national paranoia it triggered, few on either side of the political divide questioned it.
Because of that day the United States now has a large surveillance apparatus. At airports we have long lines, full body scans and I have to take my shoes off at the security checkpoint (the most annoying part for me). Perhaps this is Osama Bin Laden’s greatest victory. And we let it happen…
Amen.
While you’re preoccupied with the “my guy (or gal) vs. your guy (or gal)” silliness, our freedoms are being undermined by all of the above.
How about this…
Trust no one.
Verify everything.
Require transparency up, down, left, right, across the board, from everyone.
It’s a shame… even as I typed that, I’m shaking my head, worried that we’re already too far down the rabbit hole. Oh well, a guy can dream, I guess.
bjr001 perhaps MDN is a little more worldly and reads a little news from time to time outside of Apple, maybe even about news concerning our beloved Federal Government and its associated agencies… You know the kind Obama says, “Part of my goal is to restore a sense of possibility in politics and government,” Pres. Obama told a DNC fundraiser in San Francisco. http://twitchy.com/2015/02/13/two-years-is-a-long-time-obama-says-he-intends-to-squeeze-every-last-little-bit-of-change-he-can/ (see!!! We told you, Socialist!) Let’s look at some of that “sense of possibility in government” shall we…
And hey, let’s give those agencies a more easy, convenient way to take ‘We the People’s’ money.
“Oh, the humanity!” (or lack thereof)…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/law-lets-irs-seize-accounts-on-suspicion-no-crime-required.html?_r=0
http://therightscoop.com/the-irs-seized-940k-from-this-navy-veterans-business-and-admitted-he-had-done-nothing-wrong/
@bjr001:
Apparently because they aren’t blindly loyal to one or the other of the major parties. Because of that, they call bullshit on both, since both are so horribly corrupt and violate our freedoms regularly.
Krioni Wrote:
“Apparently because they aren’t blindly loyal to one or the other of the major parties.”
MDN is usually pretty accurate about Apple matters, but If you’re talking about MDN in the statement quoted above, you must be very new here.
MDN has expressed more distaste for the Obama administration than any tech site I’ve ever seen. OTOH, I’ve seen ZERO MDN comments calling bullshit against republicans.
Here you go, peteip.
http://macdailynews.com/2013/02/07/republican-savior-marco-rubio-upset-about-apple-chargers-edges-closer-to-samsung/
Next time, do your research before spouting accusations.
OK, Based on your response I’d now need to update my statement as follows:
mdn has expressed more distaste for the obama administration than any tech site I’ve ever seen. otoh, I’ve seen CLOSE to zero mdn comments calling bullshit against republicans.
There are more examples. Do your own research. A real man would’ve apologized publicly for wrongly accusing MDN of something because they’re too ignorant or lazy. Or are you, as I suspect, nothing more than an outright liar?
I absolutely believe in acknowledging my errors. But this disagreement between us does not apply.
Do you really believe MDN has treated Obama and the republicans with parity? I’ve seen absolutely vitriolic statements towards obama here, and nothing close to parity on the other side.
I will say that MDN has toned down the heat in recent months, for which I’m grateful.
What “heat?” Links or it didn’t happen.
One more thing. I have definitely DONE my research.
As heavy apple investor, I’ve read this site several times a day, every day for the last several years.
If you’ve “DONE” your research, give us the links or STFU.
You STFU. It is not our job to educate you, and you would not believe it, anyway.
Well, there’s your problem. Instead of reading this site, MDN, several times a day as a heavy Apple investor, how about, as a heavy American voter who I’m sure relishes the freedoms the Founding Fathers told the federal government to keep their hands off, read several times a day what your federal government is doing to it’s citizenry every day for the last several years!
That would be like Democrats saying the IRS targets both Liberal/Progressive organizations as well as Conservative organizations such as the Tea Party, True the Vote, Ohio Liberty Coalition, etc. by saying the ratio of such targeting done by the IRS is 100:2… I’ll leave it to you which side had 100 encounters with the IRS.
Wait, link or it didn’t happen… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
No they are not. You’re just mudding up the waters with that statement to cover for the GOP. The GOP’s track record speaks for it self. It’s not that the GOP just favors the wealthy, rather GOP is only for the wealthy at the cost to the rest.
You can’t actually be that much of a simpleton, can you? What are you, six?
What passes as a rebut for a GOP, personal attacks, no substance.
Did MacDaily REALLY just say “I hope Tim Cook didn’t give up his back door to Obama?” OUCH!!!!!!
As if you can compare 1759 with today hey why not quote Chaucer, julius Caesar or Confusius for the relavence it has to today. For good or bad it’s pointless trying to use something said by historical figures too literally in an entirely different time and environment as if it is inviolate no matter how things change. Of course they aren’t here to potentially modify their thinking though we tend to modify our assessment of their words to suit ourselves again for right or wrong.
You’re talking about bringing up the past to justify the present. I agree, that does not do the trick. It merely bolsters one’s argument with semantic or celebrity dazzlement, rather than with an appe
“Hopefully, Cook didn’t give up anything important (back doors, encryption keys) for that seal of approval. We trust he did not.”
Honestly MDN if you believe that, someone has a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
To be clear, Cook probably did not give up anything important for the seal of approval, he would not have to, it would have been taken.
Road Warrior, I believe that Tim Cook sees privacy as a big selling point for Apple’s hardware, a differentiator in a sea of competing mobile devices, and that he has made it part of their business model. That’s why he is at the highly publicised Stanford conference talking privacy, and the other CEOs are not – they whose business models rely on data scraping for use by advertisers. Principally Google.
That being said, MDN’s cautious scepticism is understandable. One ought never relax one’s vigilance — our fragile liberties, rare in most times and places, require it.
I hope that Tim Cook sees privacy as much more than a big selling point for Apple’s hardware. Some see privacy as something to incorporate into the aspects of a nation, like a Bill of Rights. Some see privacy as a right to fight for, pour blood for, and if so die for so that others may have it and not just people from one nation but for all people on the planet.
Some see privacy as lip service, a facade to be used as part of a propaganda to cover and/or justify the spying, espionage, sabotage, torture, cyber terrorism and other various crimes against humanity.
The latter types run a good divide and conquer play. Having Apple alone there, with a trojan gift. Oh I don’t doubt what MDN said that Tim didn’t give up anything important (back doors, encryption keys) for that seal of approval but it would be very naive to think that is not the overall goal of this terrorist organization, oh sorry, the U.S. government (it’s hard to see the difference between the two these days, if there is indeed a difference). The other organizations don’t have to send their CEO’s, they may be annoyed at what Snowden has revealed but basically everyone is running the same play book when it comes to mining people’s personal information. Everyone but Apple.
The media speculates that the other CEO’s were not there because they are annoyed at what Snowden has revealed but as everyone, except for Apple, is running the same play book when it comes to mining people’s personal information another possibility is plausible. All those other companies don’t want to be seen as supporting Apple, that’s where the divide it. These CEO’s don’t want to get on the wrong side of the dark intimidating forces of the Taliban, or, ISIS, or the USA when it comes to being immorally invaded and tortured, and believe me any one of those organizations is fully capable of doing that.
Tim Cook is making a stand, and right now it’s an isolated one, which no doubt pleases the government to no end. They know how to coerce the others, and isolating Apple like this, makes it easier to take care of if and when the time comes.
Fortunately I believe that Tim Cook knows exactly what’s going on and sees the benefits of becoming a citizen of the free and civilized world.
Of course Tim Cook sees privacy as more than just a selling point. What makes Steve Jobs, and Apple, and Tim Cook great is their infusing of human values into the stuff they make. People want these things when they see how well tuned they are to their lives. “Build it and they will come. The money will follow.” That philosophy has worked extremely well, better than any other business motivation. Meanwhile Google et al. focus on keeping their ad revenue streams flowing. They aren’t thinking of human values, rather exploiting our desire for free stuff to take something from us. They can’t help but lean in the direction dictatated by their business model. Apple rewards those who walk its path with enough gold that tempters can’t coax them away.
That’s so spot on. It is a question of values, values and tolerance. If there is tolerance for both, there is coexistence. However in the monocultural madness there often develops an intolerance, a perceived threat to the corrupt herd. That’s when it is important to stand by the values and tolerance, regardless of cost.
Your sentiments as always greatly appreciated. See you around some other issue no doubt.
Um, maybe they can use that to link to other resources that they can view. It may be, work around of sorts.
My least favorite thing about MDN is the constant and stupid political junk that dominates most threads. Ick.
Like there isn’t enough of that crap already.