Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
I'll repost my comment from the other thread that got flagged for being a dupe:<p>They absolutely stake out moral positions on issues like this all the time. The difference is they only do it in the West where rule of law prevails and they can actually exert influence.<p>They've done it with various anti-LGBT efforts that have taken place around the US, they've done it with the fight with the FBI and they're doing it right now in Australia [1], among others.<p>What they don't do is shoot themselves in the head in some misguided attempt at ideological purity.<p>Also this seems absurd to me:<p>>The company has not fully tested its political and economic leverage in China. It hasn’t tested the public’s immense love of its products. It hasn’t publicly threatened any long-term consequences — like looking to other parts of the world to manufacture its products.<p>If China's authoritarian regime is objectionable then do what countries have always done in history: isolate them economically, diplomatically or politically. Try to foment and support an insurgency or revolution or just invade them yourselves. I'm not sure anyone is willing to risk nuclear war to bring democracy to China but those are your options. Apple isn't a vessel for anyone's foreign policy objectives and it isn't a substitute for the state.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-talks-australian-government-encryption/" rel="nofollow">https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-talks-australian-...</a>