Adam

Nah you were appropriately smart mouthed. The problem was my clumsy post intro.

I don’t think there’s any evidence of a global compromise but I think you’re right that China wouldn’t allow access if it didn’t ultimately control it.

I couldn’t find anything specific about iMessage but the keys are backed up to iCloud – and we know that’s compromised. I can’t imagine them leaving users the option to just not back up to iCloud to avoid surveillance, but I haven’t seen any specifics. Best to assume that under no circumstances do you ever have privacy from the gov’t in China or even when messaging someone in China.

Apple proactively aids in censorship and stores all customer data, including encryption keys, on servers controlled by the Chinese government. They’ve also excluded security features from China and crippled existing features to aid government repression.

They could have factories in China and not sell phones there. There are also other places to build factories. They just might have to trim back their 42% profit margin. It’s still a willingness to abandon principles for a price, isn’t it?

I mean, they didn’t cave to Russia either. Apple just has principles until there’s enough cash on the table. Then they claim to “always abide by local laws” wherever they operate.

Don’t you know anything, Brits? Apple only strips security features for the Chinese government, you fools!