Hacker News Reader

Comment by plusCubed | Hacker News Reader

Context: All internet companies in China operate under China's Cyber Security Law [0]. Among its consequences: "Companies could be asked to provide source code, encryption, or other crucial information for review by the authorities".

(Tangent: TIL Apple's operation of iCloud in China is by a government-sponsored data company named Guizhou-Cloud Big Data [1] as a result of this law.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Internet_Security_Law

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208351

View on HN

This law exists in Australia

The US just has secret laws and courts to compel boards to do what they say or otherwise straight sends its goons to illegally hack their own global companies seemingly oblivious to why rule of law even exists.

I'd very much like to see this "definition" applied equally. Would you say Atlassian is controlled by the Australian government for the purposes of spying?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/secret-court-rules-fbi...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-says-it-does-not-need-court...

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/nsa-hacked-google-...

https://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/snowden--the-nsa-p...

Is the CEO of Atlassian required to join a specific political party in order to remain CEO? Because that’s how it works in China. The 2 are not comparable.

There's this radical concept called the burden of proof that's been around in debate since antiquity.

Do you have any proof that Zhang Yiming has been forced to become a CCP member or lose his job? Hell I'll even make this easier for you: any evidence whatsoever that he's actually a member of the CCP?

That aside you honestly think Mike Cannon-Brookes would hold some moral highground and throw away his billions if all it costed was some lipservice and a $50 signup fee to be a party member? He managed to complain a few times after being forced into becoming a 5eyes spying vassal but besides that didn't do a single thing to stop it.

Its a fake dilemma you've created here, Chief executives do far worse things all the time than kowtow to their respective governments and when push comes to shove they all back down because it's worth it.

No, he gets to pick from two options.

Exactly. Completely different political context.

CEO of bytedance is not a member of CCP

“ByteDance's CEO Zhang Yiming did what he had to do to protect himself and his company, releasing a letter of apology that signaled loyalty to Xi Jinping's hard-line agenda.” [0]

Seems close enough to me.

[0] https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/TikTok-risks-becoming-new-fr...

> Seems close enough to me

And this is the problem, you can shift goalposts on the truth as you see fit no matter how repeatedly you are proven wrong.

Let's take a comparison:

> Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg endured an hours-long grilling by dozens of U.S. senators Tuesday during which he repeatedly apologized

Is Zuckerberg now a card-carrying member of the standing government? Is he an agent of the state? Of course not. He's protecting his business.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/2018/04/1...

Mark Zuckerberg criticized the US Government's handling of Covid[1]. Do you believe ByteDance's CEO Zhang Yiming would do the same or anything similar?

[1]https://deadline.com/2020/07/mark-zuckerberg-anthony-fauci-c...

I never heard of Zuckerberg’s letter to Trump pledging allegiance to his party’s agenda. Maybe I’m missing something here?

In fact, Atlassian is a security risk, for this factor.

What do you think the ADF would do if, say for example, someone used Jira to manage their whistleblower contact and reporting?

Those yachts'd be boarded, mate.

Australia doesn't have a law that criminalizes criticism of the ruling party, by anyone, anywhere in the world.

Funny because the whistleblower Witness K might disagree with you there (No name because his trials are conducted in secret and he's had his passport removed to prevent him testifying at the Hague upon their request)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com