Apple also crushed the Boxer Rebellion!

...Don acts like Steve Jobs caught a red-eye to China and roughed up the guy himself. But what’s more likely: that it’s Apple’s emphasis on “secrecy-or-else” that caused this or the fact that Foxconn is located in a country where freedom of the press simply doesn’t exist and reporters are routinely roughed up or worse?

Is Apple diligent about keeping its intellectual property secret? Yes. That’s its right. Does the company sanction roughing up reporters? No. Does China? Yes.

Could Apple do more to pressure Foxconn to be a kinder and gentler hardware manufacturer in a highly repressive country? Maybe. At least it does try, though not to hear Tennant tell it. Maybe Dell and all the other companies that use Foxconn could pressure it more, too. Maybe Tennant could also—say by boycotting products made there, for example.

Of course, if he’s going to be pure about it, he should probably completely stop buying things made in China. The country's track record, as you may remember, is slightly worse than Apple’s as it involves an actual body count.

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