Mark Lennihan / AP
Apple built a data center in China to hold information about its Chinese customers and ceded ownership of the data to a company wholly owned by the government of Guizhou Province.
NOTICE: Are human rights universal? The way some large global tech companies behave suggests that some do not view human rights as transferable across national borders.
Last year, Apple adopted a new policy called “Our Commitment to Human Rights.” It is an ambitious document, full of statements such as “People First” and “We are committed to respecting the human rights of all people whose lives we touch”.
It is encouraging that they say “where national law and human rights standards differ, we follow the highest standard.” However, they undermine this by failing to set minimum human rights standards.
Then it’s worse. The next sentence says that where national law and human rights standards conflict, Apple will follow national law.
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This probably won’t be a problem for Apple customers living in countries that broadly accept basic human rights (think US, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, New Zealand). But what if you are unlucky enough to live in a country where individual human rights are not respected?
Some countries have strict national censorship policies which are by any measure well below acceptable international standards. What is the approach of the big tech companies here? Unfortunately, there are many damaging examples of Western tech companies offering restricted services to their customers in these countries.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Pathfinder Asset Management chief investment officer Paul Brownsey says New Zealanders have a choice when it comes to making ethical investment decisions.
Microsoft has turned off search results for customers in China looking for information about the Tiananmen Square protests. Apple has removed identity concealment software in countries with repressive governments like Myanmar. Internal TikTok documents revealed they were censoring posts that could offend China. Linkedin did the same. Apple has removed thousands of apps from its store that the Chinese government finds offensive, but those same apps are available outside of China.
Apple went further by building a huge data center in China to store information about its Chinese customers. Ownership of the data was transferred from Apple to a company called Guizhou-Cloud Big Data, a company wholly owned by the government of Guizhou Province. Apple users in China have ceded ownership of their data to the Chinese government-owned company. Apple is now referred to in the user’s terms and conditions as just an “extra party”. Under Chinese law, the government now has full access to this data.
Imagine the outcry in the United States if Apple built a data center in Florida and gave the FBI full access to customer data. Or in New Zealand, if the government had full access to the same data for Kiwis.
Is it important ? It depends on your ethical belief in the balance of power between individuals and the state.
Make no mistake, the world’s big tech companies are all about profit. Apple is the most valued company in the world, in large part because of the strong commercial ties (assembly and sale of products) with China.
In return, it offers customers in different parts of the world different levels of privacy.
While such questions are important to ethical investors, there is no objective black and white line separating the investable from the investible. With ethical investing, there are rarely easy answers that everyone can agree on.
The solution is transparency and disclosure of why a fund manager or KiwiSaver provider makes the investment decisions they make. Some investors are satisfied with minimum legal standards that make no reference to universal human rights. For others, an ethical approach is essential.
We are fortunate to live in a country where we have a choice when it comes to ethical approaches to investing. People have options and can make informed decisions. Unfortunately for consumers in many countries, governments and tech companies don’t provide transparency or choice.
Paul Brownsey is Chief Investment Officer of the ethical fund manager and provider of KiwiSaver Pathfinder Asset Management, which is part of Alvarium Wealth.
