The sweeping new national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong at the end of June is aimed at stamping out opposition to the ruling Communist Party in the former British colony.
“The law is devastating in that it appears to have no bounds,” Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, told The New York Times. “Hong Kong activists, accustomed to operating in mostly rights-respecting environment, now face a frightening void.”
Apple Inc. said it is “assessing” a new Hong Kong security law that has sparked concern about criminalizing protests.
“Apple has always required that all content requests from local law enforcement authorities be submitted through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in place between the United States and Hong Kong,” the company said. Under that process, “the U.S. Department of Justice reviews Hong Kong authorities’ requests for legal conformance.”
On Monday, other tech companies, including Google, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. said they would pause processing user data requests from the Hong Kong government as they review the new law.
MacDailyNews Note: According to Apple’s latest Privacy Transparency Report for Hong Kong (January – June 2019), the company received 358 requests for user device information, 155 requests related to fraudulent transactions, and two requests for account data.
Commies. They make your teeth turn green. Commies. The smelly like gasoline. Commies, commies, so get your commie…and Drump will love you.
Awww, how sweet! Other than the fact President Trump forced China into negotiating fairer trade deals, while the #bidencrimefamily CLEARLY said “A rising China is a … positive development not only for China, but for America.”, that’d been nearly rational.
Now run along and vote for: Blacks- “they will become predators” Joe.
Unhinged all right…. just another ass clown with nothing of import or sense to give the world.
“Assessing” my ass. They will fully comply.
If Beijing is requiring complete access to everyone’s info at will I think it would be a good time for Apple (and others if they have the balls) to say no and walk away.
I’m sure there are some others on this forum (mainly one, actually) who will be impelled to explain how it is not that simple, Apple can’t afford to do that, and blah-blah-blah.
At some point there has to be a line you won’t cross for money. Being a conduit to Communism is a hard pill to swallow when you depend on free enterprise.
China is not communist.
They preach “communism” to their people to justify a one-party dictatorship/autocracy and control in which power is consolidated in one person (pretty much the opposite of communism), but they certainly don’t actually adhere to communism in practice.
Jingping is trying to turn China back into an Imperial Dynasty at the centre of Asia, with a plethora of states paying tributes at its behest.
You say tomato, I say ketchup.
Whatever.
If they have the balls….
Tower,
I assume you are referring to me. No, I agree that there is a line you won’t cross for money. Where we differ is on where to put the line. I oppose “virtue signaling,” to coin a phrase, that has no benefits for the people of Hong Kong but serious costs for Apple employees and customers in China. You are basically saying that if people get screwed while Apple is making a statement, that’s just a price that they–but, significantly, not you–will have to pay. You aren’t the one who faces being hauled off to the Reeducation Camp because his employer chooses to flout the local criminal statutes.
As Apple Pi points out, the People’s Republic of China is only nominally Communist, just as the United States of America is only nominally based on unregulated free enterprise. Both states are mixed economies. The problem with China is not their economic system, but that they are a totalitarian state. My guess is that Apple is getting out as fast as they can, but has discovered that it is a lot more complicated than the armchair theorists think. Kind of like healthcare in the US.
No, you missed my point, which is no surprise.
If Apple products are used in China as a way for the Communist government (because it is…) to watch and control peoples’ moves, then Apple should not do business there. Period.
China’s economy may be less than Communist, but the banks, money, property and all rights are still controlled by the government. They just found a way to dole out the responsibility for running the business aspect for the ones in charge. The workers are still just modern day peasants.
There are no true Communist states because at its core Communism doesn’t recognize the human need for independence and chooses to stifle this in creativity, religion and free association. This system has never proven to work over time because it has to become more stringent every decade to keep the people in line. This should explain to you why China has loosened the reigns on some facets of its culture while still controlling many others. It will eventually become unwound from the edges like the torn seam of a dress.
Communism always fails because at its core is the thought that a few ‘smarter’ people can decide what is best for all. Your admiration for them boggles my mind, but then you are the same type that would think they could control such a system “if only given the chance”.
And the biggest problem in America right now is there are too many of you.
Just because China has some inkling of free-enterprise, and just because America has some (needed) types of ‘socialism’ (what I call civilization) does not in ANY way correlate as you would have us believe. The chasm of how our cultures differentiate is much larger than what little we have in common.
Apple is the leader of the free world. There used to be a country that did stuff like that.