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Comment by georgespencer | Hacker News Reader

I'm not really surprised that other companies aren't coming out of the woodwork to make themselves targets. It's clear that in the main they will hold similarly strong views to Apple, but any PR worth their salt will not want the CEO of a company not implicated in something as politically charged as this to enter into the discussion.

For those who oppose this kind of behaviour by the US Government, it's a relief that they picked on Apple: a company with strong opinions about this topic, and the financial wherewithal and gumption to oppose it as robustly as anyone.

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This doesn't sound as a freedom of speech but more as oppressive government. Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear.

> Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear.

Not people—companies.

They have the same free speech rights as people, so companies arguably do have opinions.

They do, but the implications of their fears are different.

The same tactics apply to people... have been applied to people...

Companies are groups of people. Trying to disparage them as some force outside humanity is great for getting laid in college, but it's not an accurate reflection of what is really happening, so it's not a helpful attitude when addressing problems.

> I'm not really surprised that other companies aren't coming out of the woodwork to make themselves targets.

Not just targets of bad publicity, but probably lawsuits as well. The Feds don't want the dismantling of the 4th Amendment to be challenged in court and the companies complicit in said dismantling don't want it to hurt the bottom line.

> it's a relief that they picked on Apple: a company with strong opinions about this topic

Not only that, but so many other tech companies rely on user-data. They can't sell it, then turn around and say no when the govt asks for it.

I don't think it was luck, I think they picked on apple specifically because they clearly state that they don't rely on that data.

> It's clear that in the main they will hold similarly strong views to Apple

That's not clear at all. It's hard to find neutral ground in political problems like this. Staying quiet to avoid implication isn't a neutral position. Evil triumphs when good men choose to step aside instead of helping their neighbor.

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