threwaway-1

The latter would be my takeaway as well, based on how effectively Google's search technology was extricated from China -- to Baidu's and the surveillance state's benefit, despite the results from Baidu being about as effective at finding useful information as AltaVista was at the end of it's reign.

4. Chinese populous resigns themselves to the eluded-to fact that Apple's devices will not offer privacy from the state even though it's only iCloud that we presume to be affected; consumer buys domestic device that is easier to spy on

5. Surveillance state mission accomplished!

I don't know, I suppose when you insert a state actor, it's the conspiracy equivalent of Godwin's Law.

Something about this article feels "off", as if it were a fabricated and unsubstantiated story meant purely to sow uncertainty over the integrity of Apple's security in China. It felt off enough that I bothered to look into who this "sixth tone" publication is and create a throw-away -- according to foreignpolicy.com[1], it's affiliated with and at least partially funded by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group.

[1] http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/03/china-explained-sixth-to...