I think better evidence is just to point out what Apple is doing in China when principles and money go head to head. Apple has acquiesced to censorship of VPN apps by the government as well as turned over iCloud to be hosted on servers owned in part by the PLA.
Apple could have refused, and gotten banned from the domestic Chinese market, but they made a decision to damage the liberties and privacy of their customers there, because the market is worth a lot to them.
Cook even IIRC, humiliated himself by praising the CP management of the internet in China at a conference there.
Edit, QUOTE:
"During his speech, Cook declared that China’s vision “is a vision we at Apple share.”
“The theme of this conference — developing a digital economy for openness and shared benefits — is a vision we at Apple share,” he proclaimed. “We are proud to have worked alongside many of our partners in China to help build a community that will join a common future in cyberspace.”"
This is not an apt comparison. There’s a big difference between choosing a certain direction in a free market and complying with government requirements in a limited market. Apple has set the bar at a certain height for privacy in whatever markets they participate in, and that is clearly higher than their competitors in those same markets. The Chinese government has forced them to lower the bar in that specific market not by choice.
Why not just opt out of that market? Well, obviously it’s a huge market and that would be stupid, but also you can’t make changes if you don’t have a seat at the table. It’s a better strategy to maintain a presence there, be able to at least have a chance at influence, and already have a foothold if things change.
Frankly, as an American, why should I care about this as far as my own privacy is concerned? Of course Apple has a price for which they’ll “sell” user data, but all that this says is that that price is less than the profit that it makes off of those users...and that seems like a pretty obvious upper bound.
As neither an American nor a Chinese national, I think you should care because if Apple can do X with the Chinese government, Apple can do it with America too.
I'm not saying it has. I'm not saying it will immediately begin doing so. But there's clearly a limit where they will, and all America has to do is push it to that limit. American governments and American intelligence agencies have shown repeatedly (via gag orders and secret courts) that they're not above making companies spy on their users (domestic and foreign) and forcing them to stay mum about it.
Apple could have refused, and gotten banned from the domestic Chinese market, but they made a decision to damage the liberties and privacy of their customers there, because the market is worth a lot to them.
Cook even IIRC, humiliated himself by praising the CP management of the internet in China at a conference there.
Edit, QUOTE: "During his speech, Cook declared that China’s vision “is a vision we at Apple share.”
“The theme of this conference — developing a digital economy for openness and shared benefits — is a vision we at Apple share,” he proclaimed. “We are proud to have worked alongside many of our partners in China to help build a community that will join a common future in cyberspace.”"