Will Tim Apple Vacation in Sochi?

November 18, 2024

No smart software. Just a dumb dinobaby. Oh, the art? Yeah, MidJourney.

I love the idea that “It’s just business.” Forget special operations, people falling from windows high above the cobbles, and wheeling and dealing with alleged axis of evil outfits. Focus on doing what is going to sell product. That is the guiding light.

Immanuel Kant, in the midst of pondering his philosophical treatise about ethics, considers the question of the apple on his desk. Thanks, MidJourney. Good enough.

I read the allegedly accurate write up “Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App at Request of Russian Regulator.” The story reports as actual factual:

Roskomnadzor notified Apple that the Russian Service app contains materials from an organization whose activities in Russia have been declared “undesirable.”

What did Apple do (hey, that’s a t-shirt slogan, WDAD)? According to the the cited article:

U.S. technology giant Apple has notified RFE/RL that it has removed another of its apps following a request from Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor. The newly removed RFE/RL app is that of the Russian Service, which in turn hosts the websites of its regional projects Siberia.Realities and North.Realities. Apple had previously removed the apps for RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service and Current Time, the Russian-language TV and digital network run by RFE/RL.

The acronym RRE/RL is GenX speak for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In case you are not familiar with these efforts, the US government funds the broadcasting organizations. The idea is to provide “real” news, information, and analysis (insight) to avid listeners in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

The write up adds:

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus called the decision “yet another example of how the Russian government sees truthful reporting as an existential threat.” Besides RFE/RL’s apps, Apple also removed or hid several Russian-language podcasts produced by independent journalists.

From my point of view, the US government wants to provide information to citizens in some countries. Russian authorities do not want that information to flow to residents of those countries. So the Russian authorities told Apple to remove an app which allowed iPhone owners to access certain information deemed unsuitable to citizens in some countries of interest to Russia. I think I am following this … mostly.

Then Apple said, “No problem.” The extremely well-loved Cupertino, California, outfit removed the applications offensive to Russian authorities. Then — let me get this straight in my dinobaby brain — Apple notified Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty professionals, “Yo, dudes, we rolled over for Vlad and his agents.”

Have I got this right? Apple wants to government to disseminate the information Russia does not like. That’s helpful, Apple.

Several observations:

Is Apple more powerful in terms of information dissemination than Google and its allegedly reviled video service which has notable performance problems in Russia and parts of the Russian Federation?
Is the US government supposed to amp up its dissemination of information to the affected nation states? (Well, thanks for the guidance Apple.)
Is Apple supporting the US government or actively assisting a nation state whose leadership continues to talk about nuclear bombs and existential threats to Mr. Putin’s home base?

My hunch is that Apple, like a handful of other commercial entities, perceives itself as a nation state. The pesky government officials — regardless of where they lives —have to be kept happy. The real objective is keeping those revenues flowing.

Did Immanuel Kant cover this angle in his “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals”? Oh, the apple on Kant’s desk has disintegrated.

Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2024

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Ethics, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.