mornelithe said:
It's ok, no biggie :) Strong feelings around this one (warranted). I'm more concerned about the long game, frankly. One dead sack of shit's privacy isn't important to me. What really has to happen, and I feel it may need to happen sooner, rather than later, is Silicon Valley and America's intelligence agencies will need to have a sit down and work something out on how they can come to an agreement. Otherwise, Congress absolutely will step in and pass legislation forcing it. Every article I've read supports what Apple is doing, with the caveat that something has to be done or the US Government may very well enact legislation forcing tech companies to provide loopholes for authorities. No, the FBI cannot force them to write code. But (and this is merely speculation), it would appear that Congress absolutely can through laws. And you can imagine that that is the absolute last thing anyone wants. You spoke of foreign agencies making requests for this access? Well, it's already happening, but not to Apple, and not in the manner you suggested: Police in Brazil have arrested the vice president of the social media company Facebook in Latin America. Diego Dzodan, an Argentine national, has repeatedly refused to comply with court orders to hand over data for use in a criminal investigation into drugs trafficking, police said. His arrest relates to the messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook. In a statement, Facebook called Mr Dzodan's arrest an "extreme and disproportionate measure". Mr Dzodan's arrest was ordered by a judge in the north-eastern state of Sergipe. He was held as he left his house in an exclusive area of Sao Paulo on Tuesday morning. Judge Marcel Maia Montalvao had in two previous instances issued fines against Facebook for refusing to release WhatsApp data. The information was needed as part "secrete judicial investigations involving organised crime and drug trafficking," he said. In a statement, Facebook said it was "disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure". "Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have," the company said. In December a judge in Brazil suspended WhatsApp for 48 hours. The Sao Paulo state judge said at the time that the company failed to comply with court orders to share information in a criminal case. |
I believe, like most do, tech giants will not win this indefinitely. What if Apple is largely doing what they are doing because foreign agencies have been making ridiculous demands. I can't claim tech giants actually care, but shouldn't we? If liberals and human rights activists in Saudi keep getting jailed for acts of terror, and I keep mentioning KSA because you'd be terrified knowing what is classified as terror there, how can that country ever progress? On the other hand, why should Americans put up with the imbalance between privacy and protection Apple caused with iOS 8 because of some irrelevant countries. But those irrelevant countries are the source of most of the distress in the world right now. Shouldn't we do what we can to protect "freedom fighters" because whatever progressive changes we'd like to see, it has to come from within. You can see I am undecided on what should Apple do, and it seems to me that most people are picking sides based on whom they hate less, not based on what their side represents.
What do you think of what's happening in Brazil? Is it happening in a manner worse than the one I suggested? What will Facebook do next?
And please, keep revisting the thread and sharing your opinion, it's better than almost everything I've read on the matter. I am here to learn.
