The Werewolf

9secondkox2 said:

Apple let complies with Irelands law. Period. Zero wrongdoing. 

Thats a fact. And it's a fact already agreed upon.

Ok... I walk up to you and say.. "I have a 10 oz bar of gold, but I need the money right now, so I'll sell it to you for $100." Guess what happens when you find out that the gold bar was stolen? They take the bar away and they don't give you back the $100.

In the same way, Apple's lawyers should have flagged this entire deal as suspect or at the very least, written in protections in case the EU decided to do something just like this.

The EU rules changed after Apple agreed to the deal, but Ireland and Apple didn't change the terms of the agreement AFTER the rule changes. Apple was aware of it. So no, they're not 'innocent'. They're 'complicit'.

The problem is that Ireland violated the tax rules they agreed to as members of the EU in order to give Apple a special deal in order to gain advantage over the other EU countries - the very reason the tax rules were implemented.

While it's not Apple's fault - technically - their lawyers should have spotted this and called it out before agreeing to the deal with Ireland. It's like arguing that it's not your fault the goods you bought at a pawn shop are stolen. Whether it is your fault or isn't, it's still illegal. You'll get those goods confiscated without compensation. You can go to the seller and sue them, of course.

"Irish tax law, U.S. Tax law, as well as global consensus on tax policy." The thing is, Ireland is a party to the Lisbon Treaty and other related treaties with the EU. They can't now complain that they have to comply with those treaties, even if they have decades of Irish tax law on the books. US tax law is completely irrelevant... the EU isn't the US and aren't obligated to pay any attention to them, same with global concensus - which isn't a 'thing' legally.

To me, both parties - Ireland and Apple - have to take some responsibility here.

genovelle said:

Kind of off subject, but the whole concept of Samsung Pay is scary to me. Taking the magnetic stripe data and transmitting it wirelessly?  That is a recipe for disaster. So now crooks can gain access to your name and  card without actually having your card. Who thought that was a good idea?

It should be scary. The technology is essentially the same as magstripe (they use a magnetic induction coil to simulate the magnetic patterns on the magstripe). This is why it's time for the US to join the rest of the world in the elimination of magstripe technology and get on with chip and pin, which isn't perfect, but a hell of a lot more reliable and secure than magstripe.

"Apple Pay accepted at more than 2M locations, coming to Chik-fil-A, other stores soon" Sadly, Tim Cook is NOT accepted at Chik-fil-A...