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Comment by emilsedgh | Hacker News Reader

The biggest downside of Option 2 is stated as:

> Perhaps more importantly, this is also a strategically worrisome direction to go in, because it plays into the narrative that Big Tech is more powerful than sovereign nations.

I don't buy it. I think it can be a fantastic win for them. Announce a leave date unless the government backs down and advertise it heavily on TV and everywhere:

Your government wants us to spy on you. We are not going to comply. Call your parliament members to <blah>.

This would make them champions of privacy and every other government will know how deep their commitment is.

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Hoping for this and hopefully it will drip over to the EU as they keep trying this as well. Companies need to make a stand, although most won't.

Isn't it a criminal offense if they acknowledge the request? It was leaked to wsj, Apple refused to say anything about it.

Yes, the request itself is required to be kept secret in a similar way to National Security Letters (NSL) in the US (when used under the Patriot Act disclosure provisions).

This assumes that most Britons oppose their government having such powers.

Which maybe they do in abstract, but when the government reframes this as, "Apple prevents us from catching child abusers", I don't think Apple would win that match.

The government sucks at marketing. Apple is great at it.

That still presumes that as an entire voting population, Britons would choose freedom over convenience or perception of propriety. The current government there doesn't appear to reflect the former.

Then again, not a UK resident, so what do I know?

Britons really don't like their current government (this sentiment has applied equally for most administrations in recent past).

Do you think people are going to believe Kier Starmer or whoever is Home Secretary right now vs. Apple?

I don't think "people" are going to have a say in this at all. Their privacy is now between Apple and the UK government, two entities with less-than-favorable track records protecting their constituents.

The UK could have followed the EU's lead in forcing Apple to diversify their service offerings. They could have written their own consumer protection laws or leveled lawsuits about Apple's dubious privacy considerations whenever they wanted. But instead they waited until it was too late, because everyone thought; it would never happen to me, right?

I know people will call this a fatalist reaction, but Apple has fought hard to control their fate. Now you have to trust that Apple will do the right thing, while Tim Cook stands shoulder-to-shoulder with America's most radical leader in half a century. If this matters to Britons, they should vote with their wallets and ditch Apple themselves.

Although an outside chance, one possible outcome is a shareholder suit.

The odds will be massively in favour to Apple, the British government is broke, they can't afford the consequence of Apple leaving UK market, it will be a fatal blow to the chanceller's pro-business policy.

This is what I'm hoping for as well.

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