U.S. Senators Question Apple CEO Tim Cook About COVID-19 App Privacy

[iOS Geek]

Funny how you're criticizing US governors, who are at the state level, and not mentioning two months of inaction at the national level.

The issue with that is I distinctly remember a few months ago when Trump wanted to ban travel to/from China...my governor blasted him for being a racist and that our state would not tolerate a "blatantly racist move" like that. It took my state longer to respond than it took the federal government to. We had our first case in the state in January. We didn't do squat until March...unless you count b*tching about the federal government. That's all my state did for the two months between our first case and actually doing something productive. And we are now one of the hardest hit states and our governor is scrambling to cover his ass because even he seems to realize that this solid blue state probably won't vote to reelect him next year. He spent a lot of time pushing blame on everyone else for failing, all while ignoring the fact that HE ALSO failed for two months. When we had our first case in January, he told the people of the state not to worry and that we would have it under control. He didn't do anything until it started spreading like wildfire in March and now...almost every day has been worse than the one before it.

If you really want to blame anyone...just know that it wasn't only the federal government that let us down. A lot of states are doing it too. And before you ask...my state is as democrat as a state can possibly get. No republicans to blame here, because there aren't enough to have any sort of impact on decision making. Democrats have a supermajority and what they say...goes. They own the result of our state's inaction, 100%. And I think they know it. They are in full panic mode and it's not because of the virus itself. It's because they know they f*cked up and they can't blame any of the state's republican politicians because those republicans...don't have enough numbers to overpower any decisions.

 

[ozziegn]

The government failed to control a pandemic the last thing they should do is criticize Apple for trying to help.

The only reason why the government is being accused of this is because Donald Trump is the president. This is just one of the MANY bullets that man has to attempt to dodge every single day he wakes up and goes to work. I'm beyond astonished at how horrible the democratic side has been throughout his presidency with their never ending quest to get him out of office. And now, we have a freaking world-wide crisis and those POS democrats have increased their pathetic President Trump ousting efforts a thousand times fold.

My God, you'd figure if there was ever a time where this country could unite and come together and be as one should be right now! But no, the extremely high childish behavior from the democratic side continues to rain their fury down on President Trump's administration for every single reason they can think of. It's those kinds of morons is what's going to be the death of us all.

 

[chucker23n1]

The only reason why the government is being accused of this is because Donald Trump is the president. This is just one of the MANY bullets that man has to attempt to dodge every single day he wakes up and goes to work. I'm beyond astonished at how horrible the democratic side has been throughout his presidency with their never ending quest to get him out of office. And now, we have a freaking world-wide crisis and those POS democrats have increased their pathetic President Trump ousting efforts a thousand times fold.

My God, you'd figure if there was ever a time where this country could unite and come together and be as one should be right now! But no, the extremely high childish behavior from the democratic side continues to rain their fury down on President Trump's administration for every single reason they can think of. It's those kinds of morons is what's going to be the death of us all.

If you think it's a partisan issue, consider how differently W thought about pandemics.

You have to go through a lot of mental gymnastics to consider Trump's handling of this crisis anything close to good.

 

[1146331]

This is just typical of congress, always deflecting, "Hey look at what Apple is doing!!"
COVID-19 happens and congress is trying to sneak **** like this through:

A sneaky attempt to end encryption is worming its way through Congress

The EARN IT Act could give law enforcement officials the backdoor they have long wanted — unless tech companies come together to stop it

www.theverge.com

Everybody here knows I generally if rarely NEVER defend Apple.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Funny how you're criticizing US governors, who are at the state level, and not mentioning two months of inaction at the national level - the people needed a single coherent message from the top (along with marshaling of resources far in advance) - we didn't get it. Instead we got, "gee, we sure are doing a great job, there's only 15 cases and soon it will be zero". Now the states are left to fend for themselves.

None of what the relevant committee is asking will slow down deployment or upkeep of Apple's app. They have a duty to ask questions about security and privacy. It's part of their job. This has happened before on other topics. They've asked reasonable questions, for the record, Apple will provide reasonable answers, on the record. Don't get so worked up about it.

Don't get me wrong: I criticized US governors because there is no point in criticizing "the top" when I have absolutely no trust in his brain...

What happened BEFORE doesn't matter. As I said, the World won't be the same after this pandemic, and privacy concept, as far as health will be concerned, has to be revised. No matter what a bunch of bureaucrats thinks.
[automerge]1586160866[/automerge]

Agreed (with the caveat that no country was prepared). I think that it's us voters that we have to learn that sometimes long term thinking is necessary, and that we have to expect expenses or efforts even on things that we don't see as important. It happens everytime, and I think it's part of our human thinking. If back in December 2019 you asked any voter or politicians "what's the biggest threat in 2020" very few would've said "a pandemic, from China.". Heck, it would've not made the Top 5 list. Hence, the vast majority of voters would've seen investments into stockpiles of masks and respirators as total wastes (it happens everytime. "shouldn't we invest more on schools/education/retirement/weapons/whatever"?). It's simply a matter of probability... in 40 years on this earth I have never seen a true pandemic. I don't know anyone alive who has seen their life seriously modified by a pandemic... so our own view is that it's so rare that we shouldn't invest on its prevention.

In december 2019 was too soon to understand the threat, but it was different by the end of February 2020 ... Everyone ignored what was happening in Italy ...

 

[Dwalls90]

The issue with that is I distinctly remember a few months ago when Trump wanted to ban travel to/from China...my governor blasted him for being a racist and that our state would not tolerate a "blatantly racist move" like that. It took my state longer to respond than it took the federal government to. We had our first case in the state in January. We didn't do squat until March...unless you count b*tching about the federal government. That's all my state did for the two months between our first case and actually doing something productive. And we are now one of the hardest hit states and our governor is scrambling to cover his ass because even he seems to realize that this solid blue state probably won't vote to reelect him next year. He spent a lot of time pushing blame on everyone else for failing, all while ignoring the fact that HE ALSO failed for two months. When we had our first case in January, he told the people of the state not to worry and that we would have it under control. He didn't do anything until it started spreading like wildfire in March and now...almost every day has been worse than the one before it.

If you really want to blame anyone...just know that it wasn't only the federal government that let us down. A lot of states are doing it too. And before you ask...my state is as democrat as a state can possibly get. No republicans to blame here, because there aren't enough to have any sort of impact on decision making. Democrats have a supermajority and what they say...goes. They own the result of our state's inaction, 100%. And I think they know it. They are in full panic mode and it's not because of the virus itself. It's because they know they f*cked up and they can't blame any of the state's republican politicians because those republicans...don't have enough numbers to overpower any decisions.

Trump never banned travel to/from China. What you see on his Twitter vs. what actually happened are very different things. Hundreds of thousands of folks flew from China into the USA after he announced his "travel ban". I speculate your governor may have been responding to Trump calling it the "Chinese Virus", which is racist.

As the president, you are the leader of the country. Leadership means you are responsible for successes, and you are responsible for failures. Whatever you do or don't do is your fault. The end. There's a reason it's one of the toughest jobs in the world. Instead, Trump says I don't take responsibility at all.

Most governors aren't really receiving praise for their response time, however, the president was privy to far deeper levels of intelligence and at a much earlier point in time. He was made aware of this in January, before there were confirmed cases in his own country, but he chose to ignore it. Governors have a fiduciary responsibility to their state constituents, but without federal support, they're half crippled. By your logic, the federal government should have stayed out of what happened in 9/11, and let NY wage it's own war in the middle east. The federal government's role is to create a highly functional infrastructure for its country and citizens. If the federal government's job is not to support the states in times of crisis, then why am I paying the IRS taxes every year? To pay for Donny's golf trips?

I really don't think anyone is trying to make this a partisan issue. Trump's administration handled this poorly. Between ignoring the problem for 70 days, pretending to ban travel, contemplating keeping the economy open while letting millions die, or preaching a miracle drug that has no proven track record, there is no good way to spin this in his favor. That has little to do with him being a republican and more to do with the type of leader he is (or isn't).

 

[Jimmy James]

Government: You need to keep personal information private.

Also Government: Give us a backdoor that undermines all security.

 

[iOS Geek]

If you think it's a partisan issue, consider how differently W thought about pandemics.

You have to go through a lot of mental gymnastics to consider Trump's handling of this crisis anything close to good.

I wouldn't say Trump's handling of this crisis is "good". But the simple fact that my state's leadership is failing epically in terms of response...would say la

Trump never banned travel to/from China. What you see on his Twitter vs. what actually happened are very different things. Hundreds of thousands of folks flew from China into the USA after he announced his "travel ban". I speculate your governor may have been responding to Trump calling it the "Chinese Virus", which is racist.

As the president, you are the leader of the country. Leadership means you are responsible for successes, and you are responsible for failures. Whatever you do or don't do is your fault. The end. There's a reason it's one of the toughest jobs in the world. Instead, Trump says I don't take responsibility at all.

Most governors aren't really receiving praise for their response time, however, the president was privy to far deeper levels of intelligence and at a much earlier point in time. He was made aware of this in January, before there were confirmed cases in his own country, but he chose to ignore it. Governors have a fiduciary responsibility to their state constituents, but without federal support, they're half crippled. By your logic, the federal government should have stayed out of what happened in 9/11, and let NY wage it's own war in the middle east. The federal government's role is to create a highly functional infrastructure for its country and citizens. If the federal government's job is not to support the states in times of crisis, then why am I paying the IRS taxes every year? To pay for Donny's golf trips?

I really don't think anyone is trying to make this a partisan issue. Trump's administration handled this poorly. Between ignoring the problem for 70 days, pretending to ban travel, contemplating keeping the economy open while letting millions die, or preaching a miracle drug that has no proven track record, there is no good way to spin this in his favor. That has little to do with him being a republican and more to do with the type of leader he is (or isn't).

I’m well aware that he didn’t ban travel. But when he proposed the idea...my governor released a statement that banning travel was nothing but racist and wouldn’t help. And that our state would not tolerate such racism. This was long before calling it the “Chinese Virus”. The governor kept encouraging travel to our state AFTER our first case popped up in January. He then did nothing until AFTER we lost control...in March.

You can say he “pretended” to ban travel all you want, and then blame him for not doing it. But the democrats who called banning travel a “racist” move...share part of that blame.