http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article41840.html
This is just the tip of the iceberg. And when they get caught, it's a minor slap on the wrist.
Read up on how the Feds manipulate the oil, commodities, and even equity markets through the proxies at the banks.
Added source :
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/b...-to-banks-pure-gold.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&
Not saying that Apple is equivalent. But they could easily deny any wrongdoing while participating in NSA activities.
Certainly interesting, but still you are making a large error in argumentation. The Example of MBS is one of banks exploiting a
lack of oversight by the authorities. The aluminium shuffling example you brought in is essentially the same. The banks are doing something that is essentially legal but entirely unethical, and therefore violates their code of conduct. In the case of the MBS, they have been taken to court and have paid for it (although only marginally).
What people (including you) are accusing Apple of is entirely different and cannot be compared to these examples at all. Here a
government agency for all intents and purposes went outside the books and started illegal activity on its own. It developed technology to monitor every single person on this planet through the technology we use on a daily basis. That is so far the only proof that we have, although even that could be disputed because
no one has found a device on which the technology is actually installed. They could just be a set of slides made by a smart guy like there are many on this board.
Where most of you are going wrong is that you automatically assume that because the government is bad and banks are bad, that Apple, Google and other companies that produces the hackable technology are also bad. That they have willingly or unwillingly cooperated with the illegal practices of the NSA.
- There is not even circumstantial evidence or indications that this is or even needs to be the case. The NSA could buy large quantities of Apple's products, modify them and sell them on the secondary market (eBay etc). If you are the NSA and are involved in illegal and highly sensitive practices, would you really want to involve a corporation with several tens of thousands if employees in these practices? Doesn't that constitute a major risk to your activities?
- It would be a death sentence for a company involved in this. Especially Apple, which is under pressure of losing market share in most of its major markets. Customers are switching more easily these days, and the moment Apple is proven to be involved with this is the day most of these will switch. It would mean Apple would likely follow Blackberry, and it would quickly be bought out for its patents.
So again. That other companies or parts of the government are engaged in illegal activities doesn't automatically implicate Apple or any other producer of cellphones. In addition, the examples that many people here provide are not even remotely comparable or indicative that something is going on in this case.
