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Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

(blog.emojipedia.org)
1456 points pulisse | 1 comments | 07 Oct 19 16:24 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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tibbon ◴[07 Oct 19 18:36 UTC] No.21184395[source]▶
What's it take for an engineer in the US to actually do something like this?

If my boss/product manager wanted me to do something like this, I'd be calling them out for shitty politics, and telling them they need to find a new engineer because I'd quit immediately - and likely incite others to come with me.

Maybe I have a higher sense of morality than others, but I'm no shill for China's power over Taiwan. I can use my entitlement/privilege as an engineer to say "fuck off" to anyone who wants me to do things I find immoral. Furthering the needs of a power hungry regime looking to assert dominance over others? Nope. I spend all my day working to further democracy and freedom, not to enable free thought and self-determination to be squashed.

Whoever coded this change and approved this PR, shame on you.

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mh8h ◴[07 Oct 19 19:00 UTC] No.21184657[source]▶
I just want to add another angle. Apple, as well as other tech companies, have many employees in China, and a lot of non-Chinese employees that travel to China regularly. Many of these changes are demanded by the PRC government and not abiding by those might risk imprisonment for those employees.

Disclaimer: I work for Apple, but I don't work on iOS.

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tibbon ◴[07 Oct 19 19:06 UTC] No.21184720[source]▶
Sure; but literally any day Tim Cook can say, "Ok China, I no longer play your game. Enjoy having no support or economic progress from us - bye".

My point wasn't a specific developer (as you point out, they might have been in China themselves and unable to do otherwise), but that anyone in the chain who is "safe" and in a position of power and privilege to not-play China's game, I find morally dubious. Engineers in the US are people I count as having this safety and privilege, but not engineers in China.

Executives, PMs and management in the US I also count as being able to tell China to shove it with their demands.

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BinaryIdiot ◴[07 Oct 19 19:39 UTC] No.21185098[source]▶
> Sure; but literally any day Tim Cook can say, "Ok China, I no longer play your game. Enjoy having no support or economic progress from us - bye".

No he cannot. He would be immediately removed at CEO and replaced with someone who played ball.

Remember, Apple is a publicly traded company. What you're suggesting is, at a whim, Tim Cook could just completely tank the company. China has far, far more leverage over Apple than Apple has over them plus it's a huge market they're making progress in.

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reaperducer ◴[07 Oct 19 19:44 UTC] No.21185153[source]▶
No he cannot

Sure he can. Google bailed on China once. Apple certainly has the money and talent to do the same.

He would be immediately removed at CEO and replaced with someone who played ball.

Would he? Why do you assume that this would be bad for it share price, or that the majority of shareholders would be against it?

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bearcobra ◴[07 Oct 19 20:04 UTC] No.21185355{3}[source]▶
Unlike Google, Apple is hardware company and has a massive amount of manufacturing in China. It would be almost impossible for them to bail on that infrastructure.
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1. reaperducer ◴[07 Oct 19 20:12 UTC] No.21185442{4}[source]▶
Not really. Apple just has to do it in phases. No one is suggesting that Apple leave China overnight.