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by kodablah 2878 days ago
> Yes, US has that issue with NSA but at least Apple stands against abuse of data privacy and has a firm ethetical stance to protect consumers data. I don’t trust Google for that matter.

I have the opposite feeling. Apple gladly hands over iCloud storage management to the Chinese (gladly meaning they won't make a statement even about whether they are happy about it), whereas I trust Google to keep my data on servers they own and are subject to their rules. Be careful about "stands against abuse" when what you mean is "stands against abuse sometimes". Also be careful about "firm ethical stance" when they choose not to confirm that stance in places where it is at odds with the law...not very firm I'd say. At the very least, I'll take the consistent company even if I dislike their data collection practices.
3 comments
graeme 2878 days ago
If you turn off icloud, then the iphone is still presumably quite secure in China, correct?

I had assumed the android phones probably were breached by the chinese government, rendering data access superfluous in most cases. But I'm not especially well informed on the latter point beyond seeing articles like this one.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/million...

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ksec 2878 days ago
Which is why I have been calling for an iOS Time Capsule. Especially for the Chinese Market. Instead Apple cared more about increasing their Services Revenue and push its user to iCloud.

And before anyone said you could use iTunes to Backup, please consider 90% of users don't like touching their computer anymore. It is simply not an elegant solution.

In an ideal world Cloud would be everything we wished for, No More BitFlip, Error, Drive Failure, Software Failure, Power Failure, File System Failure etc. But then it is very uneasy that government has all the data. Via iCloud Social Engineering, or Chinese Government forcing companies to give away those Data.

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fermienrico 2878 days ago
Very good points, I think I concede with "stands against abuse" and "firm ethical stance". Apple will do whatever the board and the shareholders demand.

I am mixing up ethics with business motivation.

Apple - Good ethics, but tied to business performance. They cannot and will not exit China or go against the grain with the Chinese authorities.

Google - Sells your data to advertisers, but has good ethical stance against authorities abusing data. Google doesn't operate in China since a decade or more I believe. They've somehow convinced the shareholders.

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scarface74 2878 days ago
It’s eady to “convince shareholders” when a negligible part of your revenue comes from China.

So far this is just a rumor....

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/1/17638480/google-china-sear...

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