eightzero

My first reaction to this was that someone mistook an Onion piece to be real. But these days, Onion pieces seem to not age well.

I am not actually sure how to take this report literally. I could understand a national government passing a law that forbids persons for acting is some manner they deem not desirable. Thus, something as broad as "iPhones in the UK shall be seized and searched" is plausible (but perhaps unwise) or even "Persons in the UK and all UK citizens must provide all their passwords to any computer system they have access to by uploading to this site [url]." Fine, but also rather unwise. The part that gets me here though, is i don't understand what the UK law is demanding Apple actually *do*. Make a system that doesn't exist? I do get that national governments can impose laws on their citizens and people in their borders. They can make laws that affect activity beyond their borders, but enforcing that becomes problematic, as beyond those borders require either the cooperation of another government, or (tragically) doing so without their cooperation - and that goes by a different name ("war" "invasion" "special police action") that has...bad outcomes. Usually they just wait until such persons appear within their borders, then it is off to the gaol (or similar.)

Did the UK really order Apple to make...something? I agree they can make what Apple *has made* subject to control where they can reach. I also agree *if you don't make this for us, we will seize your assets where we can reach." Does this law really contemplate that?

I was a launch day customer for the first time with iPad. I remember the somewhat surreal demo with Steve on stage sitting in a chair toying with it. I immediately "got it." Have had a couple versions over the years, but it remains a consumption device only for me. 

AppleZulu said:

eightzero said:

The only thing...ONLY thing...that would interest me in this product would be if it comes with an ethernet jack and functions as an Airport. All the better if it offers a VPN. I'm guessing it won't, so it is not for me. YMMV, and if you want one, help yourself. I've no use for such a thing.

Since you don’t actually know what it is, how can you be so confident that you have no use for it? 

"this product" = the one described in this article. thanks for the clarification.

The only thing...ONLY thing...that would interest me in this product would be if it comes with an ethernet jack and functions as an Airport. All the better if it offers a VPN. I'm guessing it won't, so it is not for me. YMMV, and if you want one, help yourself. I've no use for such a thing.

grouse675 said:

mind you they just reported $14bn for their last financial year, so we shouldn't cry too hard.

they? $14b of what? Charges? Interest waived? Losses? Expenses?