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A comment on Apple CEO backs China’s ‘open’ Internet vision as censorship reaches new heights. Parent comment

Re:Apple CEO backs China’s ‘open’ Internet vision as censors... by Fnoord on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @08:58AM (#15851699)
The only reason Cook would be vocal about being a freedom fighter is when its in his interests as CEO of Apple. Cook is a servant of the shareholders; not the US public or Chinese public. Their goal is to increase Apple's profit margins & volume ("profit"), not to increase liberty among the US, or spread liberty across the world. He's CEO of Apple, not chairman of Amnesty International.

I don't understand why people keep confusing the two as if CEOs are some kind of philanthropists. They're not. They're egocentric maniacs who represent their big business. That's what they're trained for, and what they're good at. See also the documentary The Corporation. IMDB's summary [1]: "Documentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance." or Metacritic's summary [2] "This feature documentary analyzes the very nature of the corporate institution, its impacts on our planet, and what people are doing in response."

Also interesting is the correlation between CEOs and psychopaths [3].

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379225/

[2] http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-corporation

[3] http://time.com/32647/which-professions-have-the-most-psycho...

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Re:Apple CEO backs China’s ‘open’ Internet vision as censors... by jtmarl1n on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @12:08PM (#15853184)
I think people confuse the two because of the perceived doublespeak. In general, people accept that a CEO's responsibilities are to the shareholders, no arguments there. I think the disconnect comes from speaking publicly about the importance of freedoms but then complying with Chinese censorship. If you're going to comply, which they have every right to do as a business, don't provide lip service about the importance of openness and freedom of information, individuals, etc.
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