Apple denies spying on Russia for the US

AppleInsider

Apple flat-out denies the claim by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) that it made backdoors into iOS that let American spies surveil officials and civilians in the country.


Apple Park is a circle, not a spy ring

The FSB's unclear allegation is that Apple made backdoors into its encrypted iPhone operating system, so that America's National Security Agency (NSA) could use malware to infect several thousand Russian phones.

According to Reuters, Apple has now commented on the accusation.

"[Apple has] never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product," said Apple in a statement seen by Reuters, "and never will."

The NSA has reportedly not commented on this allegation. It has previously commented quite bitterly on Apple's refusal to cooperate with requests to create backdoors, however.

Read on AppleInsider

williamh

This is the definition of projection.  Russian law requires Russian companies to do such things so they assume or at least accuse the US of doing the same thing.  Kaspersky software was banned from US government computers and networks because of the law and the assumption Kaspersky would have to comply with it.  I'm guessing this is going to serve as a pretext for the Russian government to ban Apple devices in Russia.  The Russian government will promote instead domestic technology.  That should be great. LOL

williamh

BiC said:

williamh said:

This is the definition of projection.  Russian law requires Russian companies to do such things so they assume or at least accuse the US of doing the same thing.  Kaspersky software was banned from US government computers and networks because of the law and the assumption Kaspersky would have to comply with it.  I'm guessing this is going to serve as a pretext for the Russian government to ban Apple devices in Russia.  The Russian government will promote instead domestic technology.  That should be great. LOL

Russia, Russia, Russia - Stormy, Stormy, Stormy - CNNLOL.  Why would Russia ban Apple devices - they are just toys - not servers or Fiber connection infrastructure.  I'm sure Apple would love to sell more machines in Russia.

I think I was pretty clear.  Of course Apple would like to sell more machines in Russia - who suggested they didn't.  Whatever you think of Apple "machines" (who cares), if the Russian government suspects or claims to suspect that Apple is helping the US government with spying in Russia, they might ban Apple devices.  This could just be a pretext for banning the use of Apple devices.  It doesn't matter if it's true.  You might have noticed that relations between the two countries have deteriorated?  

bobolicious

After this gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-ipad-privacy-problems-data-gathering-1849855092/slides/8 can Apple be trusted with any representation of privacy ... ?

camber

The statement by Russia probably has several purposes. One that should not be overlooked is a two pronged attempt to reduce the number of Apple products sold in Russia and to undermine Apple's reputation with their population.

StrangeDays

BiC said:

williamh said:

This is the definition of projection.  Russian law requires Russian companies to do such things so they assume or at least accuse the US of doing the same thing.  Kaspersky software was banned from US government computers and networks because of the law and the assumption Kaspersky would have to comply with it.  I'm guessing this is going to serve as a pretext for the Russian government to ban Apple devices in Russia.  The Russian government will promote instead domestic technology.  That should be great. LOL

Russia, Russia, Russia - Stormy, Stormy, Stormy - CNNLOL.  Why would Russia ban Apple devices - they are just toys - not servers or Fiber connection infrastructure.  I'm sure Apple would love to sell more machines in Russia.

Oh, the “Apple products are just toys!” troll trope. Yyeaaahhh. Sorry my guy but iOS is more secure than Android and that’s why it’s zero day exploits are extremely valuable. 

StrangeDays

Yep this is expected. Despite the conspiracy theory, there is absolutely zero reason for Apple to build back doors into a product known for privacy and security. It would leak (everything does) and absolutely destroy their brand reputation. For absolutely no commercial gain. 

Silly crankpot theory. 

williamh

bobolicious said:

After this gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-ipad-privacy-problems-data-gathering-1849855092/slides/8 can Apple be trusted with any representation of privacy ... ?

Actually, that slide indicates that Apple is not sharing our information with advertisers but is instead aggregating user information to provide the advertiser with useful information without sharing the details.  

That may still be more than you are willing to share, but it isn't a scandal.  I figured this out using an age-old technique called "reading."

torsti

camber said:

The statement by Russia probably has several purposes. One that should not be overlooked is a two pronged attempt to reduce the number of Apple products sold in Russia and to undermine Apple's reputation with their population.

It's funny tho. Apple does not sell anything in Russia or make any business in Russia.

williamh

torsti said:

camber said:

The statement by Russia probably has several purposes. One that should not be overlooked is a two pronged attempt to reduce the number of Apple products sold in Russia and to undermine Apple's reputation with their population.

It's funny tho. Apple does not sell anything in Russia or make any business in Russia.

That’s not true. Apple isn’t selling directly but the products are still widely available through resellers who bring them in from nearby countries.  

https://www.reuters.com/technology/new-apple-iphone-will-be-available-russia-trade-minister-says-2022-09-08/

Even before Apple had direct sales but had authorized resellers, there were a lot of gray-market Macs due to the very high import duties and VAT.  I don’t know what VAT is now but it was 29% in the 90’s.