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I have a few problems with this theory. (1) Vague insinuations don't explain the extremely specific details and timelines that Bloomberg published. (2) Bloomberg and the administration are at odds with each other. (3) So far the National Security echelons in this administration (and in the UK too) are opposed to the story in no uncertain terms. (4) Bloomberg has in the past written articles about Apple that have been proven false or at the very least extremely overstated.

1) Hardware security researcher Joe Fitzpatrick, who is one of the few sources Bloomberg publicly identified, noted that details that were even remotely technical appeared to have been lifted from from conversations he had about theoretical hardware implants work and how the devices he was making to show off at Black Hat two years ago worked.

3) The speculation is that it was just a few specific people in the US National Security apparatus who were sources and these people were likely not top-level.

4) Except it was not just Apple that they claimed were affected. They also claimed Google, Facebook and a number of Fortune 50 companies had also been affected.
 
He should treat Bloomberg like he did Alex Jones--delete the Bloomberg: Business News App from the App Store.
 
If someone wrote some false things about my company, I would be suing, not asking politely for a retraction.

Why is Tim afraid to sue?

Discovery.
BB would just love to get all and I mean all of Apple's internal documents. How long do you think that those secrets would stay secret eh?

That and defamation is insanely difficult for a public persona (including a company such as Apple) to prove. Apple would have to be able to show that Bloomberg knew at the time of publication that the story was false, and that it was published to hurt Apple. The added wrinkle of it being a matter of public concern (security), means that it would expose Apple to potential anti-SLAPP penalties.
 
If someone wrote some false things about my company, I would be suing, not asking politely for a retraction.

Why is Tim afraid to sue?

Probably because suing a prominent media organization is a terrible look for any company, let alone Apple. Not to mention the fact that defamation is incredibly difficult to prove in the US, and the suit would be both lengthy and costly with little benefit to Apple.
 
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The United States government was the main beneficiary of this story. The Trump administration has gone into a trade war with China. Sowing doubt about manufacturing hardware in China would lead companies to leave the country and build their products elsewhere, significantly harming China’s manufacturing centric economy. If tech companies were to pull their manufacturing from China and move it to India, China would be substantially hurt. India is decades away from being an economic threat to the United States. It’s a good place to park that manufacturing while taking China down a few notches.

I would look at the US government sources who spoke to Bloomberg. I think that the media were the victim of a coordinated effort to get this false story out there.
 
The United States government was the main beneficiary of this story.

I guess it's possible, but then they are doing a bad job of it. Government agencies are attacking the story and lending their voice to cast serious doubt on the article.

SuperMicro's competitors and/or anyone shorting SuperMicro stock would be the main beneficiaries of this story, and I think the SEC should be looking to see if anyone did.
 
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A somewhat reasonable argument I recently heard was that if the story was actually false, Apple would be suing, not asking for a retraction. But then again, does that fit with how Apple wants to present themselves?
 
This is not TV, thats not how discovery works. No judge would ever agree to force Apple to hand over all internal documents. Bloomber would barely even be able to get all documents from their datacenter and security department.
That’s not entirely accurate. During the Samsung trial lots of private company information they would never have allowed their competitors to see was dragged out during discovery because the judge said it was relevant.
 
I guess it's possible, but then they are doing a bad job of it. Government agencies are attacking the story and lending their voice to cast serious doubt on the article.

SuperMicro's competitors and/or anyone shorting SuperMicro stock would be the main beneficiaries of this story, and I think the SEC should be looking to see if anyone did.

Short sellers might make millions, possibly even billions but the US government stands do gain trillions — an incalculable value really — if there were to be a manufacturing exodus from China, the US’s main economic rival.

As for how poorly it’s being done, the Trump administration isn’t exactly known for its competence.
 
the US government stands do gain trillions — an incalculable value really — if there were to be a manufacturing exodus from China, the US’s main economic rival

If there were to be a manufacturing exodus from China, it would be going to Vietnam, India, Africa, or anywhere else with cheap labor. Not the USA. This is already happening because manufacturing wages in China have risen sharply over the years.
 
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Its called 'alternative facts'. I am not turning this into a political issue, but its the reality. The news media does tell lies these days just for the fun of it, it seems.

As much as you might hate Trump (trust me, not a fan either), he is right, the media does lie...a lot.
 
What would happen if it wasn't? Not saying its real but saying WHAT IF...? Something is definitely fishy here but which side it is will only be known in about 10-20 years :D

Curious to know what you find fishy here? All we have is an accusation, based on unnamed sources... and strong denial from all related parties. But what is it that you find fishy?

It's sad that this is the general state of affairs in our country now. All you need is an accusation. No evidence whatsoever needed.
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I have a few problems with this theory. (1) Vague insinuations don't explain the extremely specific details and timelines that Bloomberg published. (2) Bloomberg and the administration are at odds with each other. (3) So far the National Security echelons in this administration (and in the UK too) are opposed to the story in no uncertain terms. (4) Bloomberg has in the past written articles about Apple that have been proven false or at the very least extremely overstated.

Agreed, and I would add a number (5) Trump has shown he really doesnt care what people think of his policies. I really dont think he would waste his time trying to generate outrage against China to further his agenda.
 
This is getting a little bit weird. For Tim to call for a retraction suggests the article must have hit on a core value of the company.

I would guess it has to do with customer privacy and customer trust, where if Apple was the victim of a malicious actor like this and then covered it up, customer data could have been stolen without acknowledgment.

That Bloomberg refuses to stand down is a pretty serious statement from that news organization. I’ve worked with their reporters before and they are professionals.

So I am surprised by this situation where Apple has ratchets it up as far as it can go and Bloomberg has not backed down or released additional information to support the claim.

Very strange situation.

Someone is lying and someone isnt.

That’s what makes it very strange. Neither are backing down, but someone has to be at fault..



I still don’t understand how Apple could, by pure chance and/or scrpulousness, NOT having this on their servers at one point since they are simply a CUSTOMER of Supermicro and Supermicro incurred a massive breach in general. Especially housing iCloud on Google servers in China. This is where the line is drawn, where they are powerless against Supermicro? What assurances has Supermicro provided that they were not breach unlike others, including an undisclosed major US network that I hear chatter of in the news as well. It smells to me like a data breach that is wanting to be silenced, but fake news MSM doesnt have a great reputation either from my perspective.

But lack of evidence overhwelmingly from bureaus (however dubious their own reputations may or may not have become recently) and Apple and other tech companies denying it would also make you inclined to want to believe Apple, as well as Amazon, especially since Apple is a ‘privacy’ centric company (from a PR perspective at least).

Tim Cook welcome to Pres Trump's world! Fake News

Tim Cook is committing what Oprah Winfrey would refer to “a siege against our press” :p for even daring to question it

Imo he felt pretty unnatural and uncomfortable for the Vice puff piece that didnt even hit very hard just asked very basic questions

Is he micro dosing acid? Those are pretty big eyes. Ive noticed that long before a certain ‘nefarious’ Jones character did.
 

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If there were to be a manufacturing exodus from China, it would be going to Vietnam, India, Africa, or anywhere else with cheap labor. Not the USA. This is already happening because manufacturing wages in China have risen sharply over the years.

I didn’t say it would go to the US — see my first post on this page. The mere act of weakening China by dealing a severe blow to their economy, would hugely benefit the US, their main economic rival. China is growing at a pace that’ll make them THE world’s superpower inside of a decade. The US has a lot to lose by allowing that to happen.

Making China toxic to western tech companies is exactly the best way to cause that exodus. If western consumers can’t trust products “Made In China”, then they’ll buy something else. That would lead Apple and others to manufacture their products in India, Brazil and other nations. China’s economy would be devastated if most western tech companies left.

This wouldn’t be the first time that this government has sowed doubt about Made In China tech: US intelligence agencies have issued reports cautioning Americans from purchasing Huawei and ZTE smartphones.
 
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I don‘t get it. What did they (not) expect to find in financial records and delivery records? An invoice for the chip?
 
I think the story is interesting, but in one way it is nothing new. Every intelligence service installs bugs on their targets. There was a true story, not questioned, that our intelligence agencies were capturing machines and devices in transit because we were interested in the conversations of so-and-so in countries where we have little insight into what they're up to. We need to know. Phishing attacks don't work well in National Security organizations, so why not custom hardware? A secret fab somewhere, you know what the Minister of Secret Stuff is saying, and they detect no software. But this has been done before by custom chips, put into the target computer within a short time, repackaged and sent to its destination.

This story presumes a kind of mass deployment, involving one of the foremost sources of our wealth, the Chinese supply chain. That's something else. To end our relationship with China over this, or go back to real hostility, would be very bad for our economy and for the world's. Trying to create that supply chan in the U.S., after hearing from conservatives for YEARS that our television and chip industry was inefficient, so it was a good thing that we sold it, piece by piece, to China. But if we have to build everything in New Jersey again, it will be years tooling up, and meanwhile, the iPhone would cost $2,000, not $1,000.

What they never did was show us the device. Prove their case. They worked on it for years, but they never got anybody to talk, or anything to say that was more than a "they could," or "some say." That's not "fake news," but it's less than the impact it needs. Imagine, Pearl Harbor, and for some reason, the strongest story you got was, "The Japanese May Have Dropped Some Bombs," or, "Some Say There Was a Lot of Destruction." They'd be laughed out of time. If they had just covered the story with, "This may happen in the future, and some think it already has," which is the actual story they have. But they swung for the fences, and the story was too ambitious.
 
What's fishy?
I am gonna get crapped on for this. But what ISN'T fishy about this? *tin foil hat time*

All this jumping up and down screaming "this did not happen" actually has a lot of stink to it. First sign of a liar is they give too much detail. Not saying Bloomberg is right either, but I definitely think Apple knows more than they are letting on.

Look, all I know is usually giant corporations do not "turn the company upside down" for any reason ever, even if it is mandated by law it is still done to the bare minimum possible. Do you really believe Apple would spend the suggested kind of time/money/resources to simply debunk a groundless story? Why would they do that? There is no revenue in that investment, the shareholders should be going nuts over that?! If I write a story saying Tim eats poop, will everyone stop everything to investigate?? I doubt it.

Also the malware thing, that apparently happened. Is that not EQUALLY AS SERIOUS? Why is everyone shrugging that off as "oh whatever they fixed that", if anything it proves how possible an attack like this is. - I will admit I know nothing about this occurrence.. it seemed to get hushed up pretty good too though ???
 
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