john galt

I don't think he quite understands Apple's reasons for appealing the order. The DOJ is compelling Apple to create software that doesn't exist. Slavery was abolished in the US some time ago. Apple was pushed into an untenable situation to which they responded in the only way possible.

The DOJ graciously offered to pay for that software development. No one outside Apple knows what it cost them to develop iOS. Billions, certainly, Tens of billions? Who knows. Who cares? Write a blank check and stick it to the taxpayer, for a product that even the DOJ insists will be used once and only once, to obtain intelligence they don't even know exists.

This is political theater. The FBI wants everyone's personal information and by God they're going to get it. The government can be trusted with it. Right?

That the incident in question be declared an Act of Terrorism, with casualties

That's also specious. What can be considered an "Act of Terrorism" is open to interpretation and abuse. Who decides whether someone's actions are considered an Act of Terrorism or mere Workplace Violence? Was it the weapons used? Were there Koran verses invoked, or was it a Cross that was held high? Was it the dress, language, or appearance of the criminals? The manner of execution, whether it's being pushed off a building, burning alive in a cage, or beheading? Will it be the MPAA who decides on how much blood defines an R rating or mere PG?

No matter what, the casualties are still dead. Re-think that, Mark Cuban.

IanMC2 said:

If this ever becomes a law I would like to see Apple leave the United States. I wonder how many billions the US govt would lose in revenue.

$19B in direct corporate income tax alone, but that obviously excludes non-direct tax revenue from ancillary sources. That does not include state and local income taxes.

AAPL pays an effective federal tax rate of about 26%, and has done so for about the past decade. The average rate paid by the US's largest and most profitable companies is about 19%.

Of course some large, profitable companies notoriously pay 0% thanks to lobbyists who routinely succeed in persuading Congress to effectively grant exclusions for them in the tax code. 

AAPL is consistently one of the US's top five generators of tax revenue. That is the reason many highly profitable companies have been leaving the US to incorporate elsewhere, and if things were to change they might just do that. The  $5B cost to build the Spaceship? So what. They could easily afford to simply walk away from it. It doesn't make sense to incorporate in the US when every other industrialized country on Earth has a much more favorable tax climate.

SpamSandwich said:

Li-fi is a bust even before it becomes anything. The line of sight requirement is instant death.

Not really. You probably already have at least one light bulb in every room, right? That "light bulb" would need to be replaced with one incorporating the Li-Fi ability. Each one of them becomes an "access point" that communicates to a router elsewhere in your home. That communication can occur wirelessly, or over your existing home electrical branch circuits.

The electronics required to modulate a light source is very inexpensive, especially if the "light bulb" is already an LED, which have finally reached acceptable levels of affordability and color spectrum, and are only likely to become less expensive.

Line of sight isn't even required inside a room since light reflects from just about every surface in the room. That's the reason you can use many IR remotes without having to point them directly at the device.

Li-Fi would not probably not work outside, due to the absence of those reflective surfaces.

In fact this technology is almost essential. The wireless radio spectrum is already way too crowded.

justbobf said:

I'd like to know the difference between an industrial age tax code and a digital age tax code. To me, it just sounds like Tim and Company don't like paying taxes. But, maybe others can explain his thoughts. 

Here's a short quiz for you Bob.

A publicly traded company's primary fiduciary responsibility is to:

1: its shareholders
2: its employees
3: taxpayers
4: social justice

You can probably figure out the answer, but if you need help, it is easily found in federal law.