Apple is more powerful than most countries. Is that a good thing? (It’s not)

As a British writing for an audience mainly based in the United States, I tend to have mixed feelings when my homeland appears in the technological media. References to Tim Berners-Lee or Arm processors are one thing, but too often, it is uncontrolled surveillance or erroneous media threw. There is more in the United Kingdom than Ed Sheeran and Downton Abbey, but everything is not good.

Last week, I found myself not only to read technological articles on Great Britain, but really by writing one when sources said that the government of Keir Starmer had abandoned its attempt to break the iCloud encryption of Apple. In January, the Home Office published a “technical capacity notice” requiring access to the content downloaded on the cloud by one of the company’s customers around the world. But Apple said no, and it seems more and more that it will be that.

It is a strange feeling of seeing a developed country and, in global terms, an extremely prosperous country is defeated by a society. To be more precise, it seems badly – and as a rule, I would say that it is a very bad precedent if a company is able to seek the wishes of a democratically elected government apparently. In this case, these wishes were somewhat crackers (my colleague Jason Cross argued that the plan “would instantly compromise the security of more than two billion Apple users”), not to mention the implementation via a secret prescription. But I am still celebrating this last development a victory.

Apple is not, contrary to what he would like us to believe, an organization with ethical motivation. It exists to earn money, and the usual method he uses to achieve this is to make beautiful products and guarantee that customers acquire good experience. In this particular case, the interests of humans and the interests of society have managed to coincide, because people do not want their data security to be compromised and that Apple does not want the bad PR to allow this to happen to its users.

But in other cases, as when he had a terrible environmental file for years, or when he has deleted VPN and media applications of the sale in China – these interests did not align themselves, and Apple followed the money, as he will always do. It is preferable to have major decisions of this nature taken by politicians (hopefully advised it), which can be imperfect but which are at least directly responsible towards us, only by companies motivated by profit and responsible only towards their shareholders.

As one of the most precious companies in history, annual marketing spends more than many military budgets from a few countries, Apple is in good position to throw its weight on the world scene. The fact that the company invests and operates in your country is so beneficial that many allow it to pay almost zero tax (in 2014, it paid approximately 0.005% in Ireland, for example, despite the official rate of 12.5%) while foreign suppliers fall on themselves to offer favorable rates and priority treatments while Apple plays off China, India, Vietnam and Brazil against a other.

Apple spends a small fortune in legal advisor and another on political lobbyists. He pushes hard – like all societies – to take advantage of the most favorable interpretation of the law at any time, and if it is not good enough, does his best to modify the law. None of this is unique to Apple. What is unique is the scale and scope of its political power.

This does not mean that Apple cannot be tamed. In its country of origin, in particular, the company has much fewer options. He cannot threaten to withdraw investments or easily move benefits elsewhere, and he cannot simply remove a product from the sale here, because the market is too large and too large. Cupertino does more lobbying in the United States than everywhere else, and the blows just as violently against American regulations, but when decisions are made, he has no choice but to respect them. He has no nuclear option at the end of the road. This is perhaps the reason why Tim Cook was so constantly conciliatory for President Trump, knowing how dangerous it would be to have an enemy with the control of tax and price policies.

The United States is therefore a special case. But we can seek elsewhere a better example of how countries can counter the immense Pan-Continental Power of Apple. The organization of which Apple is really afraid is the EU, which has prompted the company to pass from Lightning to USB-C, to reluctantly launch a self-repair program and even to make available in Europe a special version of iOS which allows for praise. Most of the time, Apple does what he likes. But when the EU calls, Apple does what is told … Up to a point.

The key to keeping Apple and any other multinational company is in check is that countries have a unified front: Apple could be ready to remove the iPhone from the sale in Spain or Italy, but the entire EU zone? This does not happen. The block negotiation gives regulators the power to force the change that benefits users. Or, you know, don’t do it, because regulators are mistaken over time. But it is a better system that is at least motivated to try to do the right thing, rather than what is most profitable.

Where does it leave the United Kingdom? Outside, after leaving the EU in 2020. And now in the face of the reality that Apple can ignore its government policies. But too bad, it is probably a coincidence.

Foundry

Welcome to our weekly chronicle Apple Breakfast, which includes all the Apple news that you missed last week in an overview the size of a bite. We call it apple breakfast because we think it goes very well with a cup of coffee or Monday morning tea, but it’s cool if you also want to read during lunch or dinner hours.

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