The Chinese government already has direct access to everyone's data and messages. There is no encryption. This is mandated.
[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-ce...
[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-ce...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/apple-ce...
The hypocrisy levels are vomit inducing...
Because IBM was also in 1939...Just the local laws.
When Apple started working in China, the prevailing western belief was that economic liberalization would cause political liberalization in China, so even though China was still relatively repressive, doing business there would help move things in a better direction.
At the time, this was a very reasonable and widespread belief, which turned out to be wrong.
Betting on other people and turning out to be wrong doesn’t make you a hypocrite. It makes you naive.
"Apple's Good Intentions Often Stop at China's Borders"
https://www.wired.com/story/apple-china-censorship-apps-flag...
It wasn’t just Apple who was naïve, it was the entirety of US and European foreign policy too. Do you want to claim that the west didn’t expect political liberalization in China.
That article doesn’t change anything. Apple didn’t go into China thinking they were helping to strengthen an authoritarian regime. They went in thinking they were helping to liberalize it.
We all, Apple included, got played.
From what I understand, only to Chinese customers's data and messages (bad enough, sure, but not as bad as you say).
And it’s not just Americans who worry about this. When word got out that Line was storing user data in China servers, it blew up in the news in Japan and Taiwan and went into immediate investigation. Line ended up moving Japanese user data to South Korea. Chinese aggression and Xi’s obsession with power is not just something Americans spout off in Reddit and YouTube comments. They’re a legit threat to Taiwan, Japan, Australia and India.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Line-cuts-off-ac...
They have insisted “that TikTok U.S. user data is stored in Virginia, with a back-up in Singapore and strict controls on employee access.”
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/17/tiktok-launches-a-new-info...
I don't see any reason to give them the benefit of the doubt considering they already moderate content the Chinese government doesn't like [0] as a matter of company policy.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-...
I was referring specifically to Apple & iCloud (and I thought GP was as well).
There's no need. Apple willfully obliges local laws.