Apple

Google, Facebook, Apple Weigh in AGAIN for DACA Amnesty

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

It is February 2019, and major corporate CEOs – who are in most cases reluctant to weigh in on controversial political issues lest they repel significant segments of their customer bases – have no hesitation advocating for the amnesty for DACA recipients, or “Dreamers.”

They have been at it since President Trump was elected.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, initiated by President Obama’s executive order in 2012, granted protections from deportation and work permits to illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children (including teenagers) and have been here five years. President Trump intended to rescind DACA in 2017 but delayed the decision to await a Congressional fix, which never happened, but now the status of the program remains as the efforts to phase it out are tied up in the courts.

In a letter addressed to the top leaders of both … Read More ➡ “Google, Facebook, Apple Weigh in AGAIN for DACA Amnesty”

Corporations Mobilize to Attack Gender Normality

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Apple CEO Tim Cook

An effort to confer special rights upon individuals who want to “decide” their gender, rather than go with the biology they were born with, was greatly energized and expanded by the Obama administration.

Now the Trump administration is attempting to return that policy to normalcy, which predictably has a number of liberal technology companies steaming.

The likes of Apple and Amazon, and 50-something other companies, have joined to sign a letter opposing plans by the Department of Health and Human Services to restore definitions of sex to remove “identity” and limit it according to the genitalia an individual is born with, for the purposes of Title IX enforcement of gender discrimination in civil rights law.

The change has implications in education, health care, employment, and just about every other walk of life.

TheNew York Times reported late last month about the draft memo being composed … Read More ➡ “Corporations Mobilize to Attack Gender Normality”

Apple Shareholder Files Proposal on Free Speech

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

National Legal and Policy Center has submitted a shareholder proposal asking Apple Inc. to made a report on human rights, and specifically, free speech. The 2019 Apple annual meeting will take place in Cupertino, California in early 2019. Here is the text of the proposal and supporting statement:

Whereas, the Securities and Exchange Commission has consistently recognized that human rights constitute a significant policy issue.

Freedom of speech and association are fundamental human rights.

The Company operates in nations with systematic human rights abuses. The Company has abetted certain governments and non-governmental organizations in suppressing freedom of speech and association.

For example, our CEO in March 2018 co-chaired the so-called China Development Forum, sponsored by the Communist Chinese government. In December 2017, our CEO keynoted the World Internet Conference, another Chinese government event.

In February 2018, the Company transferred operation of its iCloud data center in mainland China to … Read More ➡ “Apple Shareholder Files Proposal on Free Speech”

Silicon Valley CEOs Attack Trump Over ‘Separated Families’

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Apple’s Tim Cook

Open borders advocates have successfully established the narrative of “separated families,” with significant aid from a media blitz, to characterize the zero tolerance enforcement effort to protect U.S. borders by the Trump administration.

Of course the major technology companies based in Silicon Valley – who almost unanimously have advocated for open borders policies that come with unlimited visas for the foreign workers they want to employ – have joined the chorus.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reacted, while in Dublin, to the widespread pictures of immigrant children housed in facilities away from their detained parents.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids,” he said. “Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what’s happening is inhumane, it needs to stop. I’m personally a big believer in the way to be a good citizen is to participate, … Read More ➡ “Silicon Valley CEOs Attack Trump Over ‘Separated Families’”

Apple Hypocrisy Exposed Again With Latest Encryption Move

Posted on by Paul Chesser
IMAGE: YouTube

Apple again has taken a step it says will strengthen privacy for its millions of product users, but the heightened encryption measure has drawn criticism from law enforcement who want the ability to “crack” phones of suspects in search of information during criminal investigations.

And once again a decision by the company has called attention to the inconsistencies of its policies in free countries, as opposed to China.

The measure, announced Wednesday, would alter the settings on the iPhone to severely curb the ability of police to communicate with the devices via external “hacking” instruments. Previously law enforcement could connect and access the iPhones’ data in an unlimited fashion in search of accessibility passwords. Under the new update, the phones will lock out all attempts at access after an hour.

“If we go back to the situation where we again don’t have access, now we know directly all … Read More ➡ “Apple Hypocrisy Exposed Again With Latest Encryption Move”

Apple CEO Tim Cook Whitewashes His Hypocrisy at Duke

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Tim Cook at Duke University/IMAGE: YouTube

Apple CEO Tim Cook continued his hypocritical moralizing for progressive causes over the weekend, in a commencement address before (unsurprisingly) a friendly audience at Duke University.

In what was widely perceived as a(nother) swipe at Facebook, and its customer data security problems with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Cook boasted that (because of a standard he said co-founder Steve Jobs established) Apple infallibly protects its customers’ privacy, unlike other companies who collect their data in order to monetize it.

“We reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy,” he said. “So we choose a different path: Collecting as little of your data as possible. Being thoughtful and respectful when it’s in our care. Because we know it belongs to you.

“In every way, at every turn, the question we ask ourselves is not ‘what can … Read More ➡ “Apple CEO Tim Cook Whitewashes His Hypocrisy at Duke”

Apple Falsely Claims it Uses ‘100-Percent Renewable’ Energy

Posted on by Paul Chesser

Media consistently pour the love on the progressive moralizers at Apple (except for occasional slams about Chinese labor conditions), and nowhere are they more willing to amplify phony claims about the company’s “goodwill” achievements than when it comes to the environment.

All corporate mouthpieces need to do in Cupertino is post some propaganda on their press release page about “renewables” and the tech bloggers and business media drool. Lazy-minded (and just plain lazy) liberal journalists eagerly adopt, repurpose and regurgitate even the most outrageous and debunk-able of claims, and dis-serve their reading public by delivering the misinformation.

Witness Monday’s announcement that “Apple (is) now globally powered by 100 percent renewable energy.” Here’s how some of the uncritical beat writers (representative of most of those who wrote about it) disseminated the release:

… Read More ➡ “Apple Falsely Claims it Uses ‘100-Percent Renewable’ Energy”

Amnesty International Joins Criticism of Apple CEO Tim Cook on China

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook has received accolades for free speech advocacy by respected institutions such as the Newseum, but the company is being called on the carpet for consigning its data storage services – especially crucial encrypted access keys – to a bunch of communists.

Amnesty International announced Thursday it would initiate a social media campaign against Apple, because the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant caved to the Chinese government and agreed to allow its customers’ data to be housed on servers there.

The effort coincides with a visit by Cook to the China Development Forum, where he is co-chairing an event sponsored by the government in which business leaders meet with public officials in an effort to improve relations.

It also follows only a month after Reuters reported that Apple agreed to store encrypted keys used to access customers’ (or, users’) data storage accounts (such as iCloud).

According … Read More ➡ “Amnesty International Joins Criticism of Apple CEO Tim Cook on China”

Apple CEO May Be ‘Boring,’ But He’s Also Political

Posted on by Paul Chesser

Earlier this month Apple Inc. announced that CEO Tim Cook (pictured) and other executives saw their pay reduced for 2016, due to a shortfall of revenues and profits against expectations.

Last year was the first time Apple’s annual revenues shrank since 2001, just before their late CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPod music device.

Business journalists cited various reasons for the disappointing results. Part of the blame was placed on weaker than expected sales of the iPhone 6s, which Apple anticipated would draw stronger interest in upgrades from current users. Others noted the lukewarm reception to Apple’s smartwatch, and the company’s failure to wow the public with any new products since Jobs died in 2011. And some point to the fact that the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant has fallen behind competitors at Amazon and Google in the development of voice-activated artificial intelligence.

In light of that complaint, … Read More ➡ “Apple CEO May Be ‘Boring,’ But He’s Also Political”