Will Apple made a "GovtOS" for China?
Last February, FBI requested Apple to create and electronically sign new software that would enable them to unlock a work-issued iPhone 5C recovered from one of the shooters in a December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. This incident killed 14 people and injured 22. The two attackers Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik later died in a shootout with police, having first destroyed their personal phones. Though Farook’s work phone was recovered intact but it was locked with a four-digit password and was set to eliminate all its data after ten failed password attempts.
To recover data from this phone FBI requested Apple to create new master software by which they can bypass the security and collect the data. Apple refused to do so and Apple CEO Tim Cook said in his online statement that, The United States government has demanded that Apple takes an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand. This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.
After Apple refuses the request a hearing was scheduled for March 22. However, a day before the hearing was supposed to happen, the government obtained a delay, saying they had found a third party able to assist in unlocking the iPhone and, on March 28, it announced that the FBI had unlocked the iPhone and withdrew its request.
Though FBI cracked the iPhone code but Apple wins the morality war. At that time Apple not only refused the request but also described the idea of making a new software to bypass their current security protocol as a “GovtOS”. Their action describes they only care about their client security, not any request or order issued by any country or any government. But will Apple can do the same thing if the same request came from China?
Last December 23, Apple removes New York Times app from their app store because they were requested by the Chinese authority. Apple removes both the NYTimes Chinese and English-language app though other international publications like The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal were still available in the app store. Does NYTimes violate any of the Apples rules and regulations or terms and conditions?
When journalists asked about this Fred Sainz, an Apple spokesman told them, “For some time now the New York Times app has not been permitted to display content to most users in China and we have been informed that the app is in violation of local regulations. As a result, the app must be taken down off the China App Store. When this situation changes, the App Store will once again offer the New York Times app for download in China”.
But when journalists asked him what sort of local regulations NYTimes violates, he declined to comment. Maybe he doesn't know either.
The Chinese government began blocking the NYTimes’s websites in 2012, after a series of articles on the wealth amassed by the family of Wen Jiabao, who was then prime minister. Till then readers can’t access NYTimes website without using proxy server or VPN which is strong enough to bypass the Chinese firewall. Their only hope is the NYTimes app which now Apple removed from their app store.
Apple sells iPhones all over the world but it builds them in China with the help of manufacturing companies like Foxconn and Pegatron. Not only that but also China is the second largest market for their product. According to Statista, last year Apple sold 86.62 billion U.S dollars product in the USA and 48.5 billion U.S dollars product in Greater China. At the first quarter of 2016, Apple sold 18.37 billion dollars product in China, which is nearly 4 to 5 times bigger than the first quarter of 2012. In 2012, Apple only sold 4.49 billion dollars product in China.
From this statistics it is clear that China consumes Apple product more than whole Europe and if the ratio goes on then one day China may be ranked the top. For Apple, China is their next biggest sales heaven, then why they do not obey the Chinese government's order or request though how immoral or unrealistic it is.
Whatever Apple can do easily in US or Europe or other Asian Countries, but for China, it is always exceptional for them. And I fear, if the scenario goes on and on then maybe one day Apple has to build the mighty “GovtOS” for China only to do their business there. And maybe this day is not so far.
