Apple CEO Tim Cook Discusses Privacy, China, Alex Jones and More in VICE Interview

[macduke]

Well, I hate to break it to you Tim, but understand that I was raised to be independent, so I don't need a nanny protecting me or my children. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day its still censorship.

Now if Tim really believes this, then just provide a switch to select curated or not and see how many want curated versus not censored. I'll bet a significant portion will select no censorship. But no, that'll never happen because it will expose the political bias that Tim denies.

Without curation you get a cesspool. Did you know that this very forum is curated by the moderation team? You are censored from saying anything hateful towards me. You would get put in time-out and banned for a another attempt just like Alex Jones did from nearly every platform under the sun and your offending posts will be deleted like his shows, apps, tweets and pages were removed. You see, this is how a civil society operates. If you don’t like being a part of it, then I suggest you exit the country. We have no tolerance for hateful bigots who only want to tear down their fellow man instead of lifting them up in peace and love. This is where we the people have drawn our line in the sand and if you cross it then we reserve the right to ignore you with every tool at our disposal. You can claim conspiracy theories all day long but once you start attacking other people verbally and inciting others to violence you’re just done.

 

[code-m]

Alex Jones shouldn't have been banned.
Don't like what he's saying - then don't listen to him.

Simple as that.

I am not a fan of censorship, however some people bring it upon themselves by “purposely” propagating fallacies knowing the facts.

One can call it “entertainment” however it seems more like a fear monger and hawking “your” solutions sold on your site to profit of misinformation being disclosed by you. This is a deceptive practise that many “personalities” use that makes me sick.

Claiming an entertainment personality is not an excuse for hate speech, maybe an upfront disclosure claiming the following video, broadcast is for entertainment purposes, should be displayed. Yelling at ones audience also comes across as an empty vessel, the message or entertainment can be conveyed without screaming at the camera. I guess being civil is not in his dictionary.

 

[Ghost31]

Well, I hate to break it to you Tim, but understand that I was raised to be independent, so I don't need a nanny protecting me or my children. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day its still censorship.

Now if Tim really believes this, then just provide a switch to select curated or not and see how many want curated versus not censored. I'll bet a significant portion will select no censorship. But no, that'll never happen because it will expose the political bias that Tim denies.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Scooz]

Like it or not, Apple would have been seen as approving of what Alex stands for, just continuing to make the podcasts available. At times, the company name and brand has to be protected. In my opinion, this was one of those times.
[doublepost=1538527368][/doublepost]
Did you bother watching the interview? He didn't mention it, because it wasn't asked nor was it part of the periphery.

Unlike here, a lot of people are able to stick to the subjects at hand, without going off on biased tangents.

this is kinda funny to read, now that your posts were merged.

 

[dilbert99]

So if a man was standing outside of a school zone cussing out little kids as they go by, is your answer to just don't listen to them? What if that sick behavior spawns more useful idiots to do the same because it is now going viral. Just ignore it? Sometimes you have to step up and do something on platforms and territory you own to keep it attractive for all involved.

You know that is a strawman argument.
[doublepost=1538554572][/doublepost]

Then show it to him by not using all Apple products. Plain and simple.

There are other ways to protest. Plain and simple.

 

[212rikanmofo]

No offense, but you didn’t know who Steve was.

Neither do you, but Apple was a lot better when he was in charge. I’m sure most others would agree.

 

[pratikindia]

So much for China privacy, Tim.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44870508

 

[zombierunner]

Vice is part of the regressive left. Avoid.

 

[hans1972]

I agree with your first couple of points. However, YouTube, Facebook, and Apple are not regular businesses. They host content written by other people and legally they are either "platforms" or "publishers". .

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not make such a distinction. In fact, section 230 says that any provider of Internet/computer services should not be treated as publisher for any third party content, with a few exceptions.

There are no mentions of platforms.

There have been numerous cases where even if the service provider performs some editorial functions, does not remove their immunity.

In fact the law itself (section 230) came about as a reaction to a court case in which an provider of a computer service became a publisher because they had some editorial role.

The law is 22 years old and still there has been no successful challenge to the immunity granted by this great law to the large platform companies.

 

[gwaizai]

The less people hear Alex Jones the better. That man is a cancer to society.

At least Alex Jones doesn't have slave factories in China where fellow human beings work under such unbearable conditions they commit suicide.

Cook should hold an iphone to his nose and take a good whiff. That's not the smell of decency and justice, but of death and suffering. If Cook really cared about people and doing the right thing, he would have moved Apple out of China a long time ago.

 

[hans1972]

So much for China privacy, Tim.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44870508

This does not mean privacy for Chinese users decreased.

 

[Kabeyun]

She's cute. Tim had solid answers.

Or, alternatively:
He’s handsome. Elle asked intelligent questions and follow-ups.

 

[sochet]

It's simple really, Alex Jones has repeatedly broadcasted defamatory material and Apple cannot be seen to be a host of libellous content. You can claim "Censorship" all you like, but when it leads to the parents of Sandy Hook victims being threatened and stalked due to obvious lies then there has to be consequences

 

[BootsWalking]

So much for China privacy, Tim.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44870508

More hypocrisy from Mr. Cook. Also says companies are BS for saying they need more of your personal data for better services, implying Google, while he collects billions of dollars from Google to enable that data collection on Apple's phones. It's all about the profit for Tim. He's no different than Google, other than claiming that he's different than Google.

 

[DoctorTech]

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not make such a distinction. In fact, section 230 says that any provider of Internet/computer services should not be treated as publisher for any third party content, with a few exceptions.

There are no mentions of platforms.

There have been numerous cases where even if the service provider performs some editorial functions, does not remove their immunity.

In fact the law itself (section 230) came about as a reaction to a court case in which an provider of a computer service became a publisher because they had some editorial role.

The law is 22 years old and still there has been no successful challenge to the immunity granted by this great law to the large platform companies.

Thank you for the clarification and the code citation. I will dig into this subject deeper.

 

[robbietop]

Whatever, Tim.

 

[DoctorTech]

Thank you Tim. I genuinely appreciate your stance on privacy and encourage you to keep standing firm on the principles you eloquently spoke of in this video. It seems like privacy is one of those issues that cuts across traditional left / right political boundaries as there are privacy advocates and detractors on both sides. This issue is the #1 reason I am so loyal to Apple products.

 

[Andronicus]

At least Alex Jones doesn't have slave factories in China where fellow human beings work under such unbearable conditions they commit suicide.

Cook should hold an iphone to his nose and take a good whiff. That's not the smell of decency and justice, but of death and suffering. If Cook really cared about people and doing the right thing, he would have moved Apple out of China a long time ago.

You’re right you probably don’t buy anything from apple, intel, Samsung, Microsoft, PlayStation, etc...

Wait a second, how are you commenting on this forum?!

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I'm sorry but the quote that stands out is Apple aren't undermining "liberal democracy" is that different to regular democracy?

 

[triton100]

I quite like his glasses.

 

[dewski]

So if a man was standing outside of a school zone cussing out little kids as they go by, is your answer to just don't listen to them? What if that sick behavior spawns more useful idiots to do the same because it is now going viral. Just ignore it? Sometimes you have to step up and do something on platforms and territory you own to keep it attractive for all involved.

You had to go out of your way to listen to alex jones, though. He isn't yelling at me from across the street.

 

[Vanilla35]

He's lying his ass off when he says that they don't have political leanings and while talking about how their decision to remove alex jones was singular (you can tell from his speech and also mannerism). Other than that, I really like what he had to say about everything else!

 

[dewski]

Wonder if the people defending Alex Jones’ right to not be censored would have the same opinion of Hitler. Blocking hate speech and lies is NOT censorship. It’s called being a decent human being leading a decent company.

well, yeah man, it is censorship. You can say justified, maybe, but it is censorship.

 

[wigby]

She's cute. Tim had solid answers.

She also asked solid questions and better follow up questions than most tech journalists.

 

[dewski]

Without curation you get a cesspool. Did you know that this very forum is curated by the moderation team? You are censored from saying anything hateful towards me. You would get put in time-out and banned for a another attempt just like Alex Jones did from nearly every platform under the sun and your offending posts will be deleted like his shows, apps, tweets and pages were removed. You see, this is how a civil society operates. If you don’t like being a part of it, then I suggest you exit the country. We have no tolerance for hateful bigots who only want to tear down their fellow man instead of lifting them up in peace and love. This is where we the people have drawn our line in the sand and if you cross it then we reserve the right to ignore you with every tool at our disposal. You can claim conspiracy theories all day long but once you start attacking other people verbally and inciting others to violence you’re just done.

Not many people have a problem with this. Just don't say it isn't censorship. I am struggling with what should be allowed and not allowed as well. These companies are getting so big and the internet is starting to become an actual necessity in life. Will there come a point where a company should have this ability to censor their own hosted content taken out of their hands? I don't trust the govt to regulate it. I don't know what the right decision is. Someone will have to decide what stays and what goes and that is very scary. I think that's why I lean to just letting everyone say what they want.