Apple Sees China as it is

Time Cook, in today’s Wall Street Journal, is quoted as saying, “When you go into a country and participate in a market, you are subject to the laws and regulations of that country.”  That seems like a reasonable explanation of why he tries so hard to do what the Chinese ask of him in controlling the use of the Internet.  So, he has Apple pull apps from the App Store that China objects to.  No big deal.  

So, what if the laws of that country say that Apple products must be able to disclose information to the State when asked?  Apple clearly does not agree that it has to help law enforcement in the U.S., but it does so in China because it is part of the laws and regulations of the country?  The problems for Apple are more murky than just taking actions to make the internal systems of computers available to law enforcement.  Apple, like all of its competitors, have to deal with a lot more countries, each with different laws about access.  Some demand direct access to anything produced in their country;  some want available access, and some want a court to issue a warrant before any access is given.   

China wants their citizens Internet access to be filtered and monitored.  Apple has to help them do that.  But, China also has demanded changes to software to collect intelligence-related  information on a global scale.  You can see this in browsers and operating systems made for, and by companies in China.  Microsoft made a special version of their operating system just for the Chinese.  Do we know that is not being used on computers made in China and exported?  If the Chinese monitored only their own people, we would not care very much.  They don’t.  They then build those kinds of controls into development kits sent to other developers the world over.  The University of Toronto has some great reports on the activity.     

So, it is easy to say that Apple must comply with the laws of the country they are in, but when those laws directly, or through enforcement, undermine the national security of your home country does it really matter?  I think it does, and I would imagine that Time Cook does too.  This is why Apple pays him so much money.