In 2011 the seeds of disputes between technology companies were growing, and at that time we published an article entitled “Wars between companies to where? ” Today, this conflict has become traditional and attracts no attention, and its intensity has decreased dramatically. However, it is noticeable that there is a new conflict that is increasing, but not between companies and each other, but in which companies are allying together for their new strong opponent. It is governments and states, as if there is a war between technology and the United Nations countries.

Who wins in the corporate and government conflict

Hardly a week goes by and we do not hear about disagreements and issues between technology companies and the governments of some countries, and we will divide these many conflicts into three main sections, which are:

  • Tax conflicts.
  • Conflict of privacy and security.
  • Conflict of local laws.

Sometimes examples of Apple will be mentioned, but this does not mean that other companies do not do the same, but they are only illustrative examples


Tax conflicts

In the world of "globalization" it is now possible for companies to move freely in any country in the world. They can establish a factory in China, a cycle of assembling products that are manufactured in the six continents, and they are shipped from China to various countries of the world. The parent company is in its country with little money reaching it and therefore pays the lowest taxes.

The above is a summary of what all major companies do in various fields, but technology precisely because of their nature makes them the most benefit from these properties. Apple, Google, Microsoft and others are based in America, but they are creating subsidiary companies around the world whose role is to exploit tax loopholes. For example, in England, a company is established in the islands that are exempt from customs and taxes, and operations are managed in England by these companies, and therefore they are not subject to taxes, so we find Apple sells in the United Kingdom for billions of dollars and there are taxes that may reach 40%, but it does not actually pay 1% taxes. As for the headquarters of America, it achieves billions of profits, but Apple concentrates in it spending such as scientific research and thus its net income in America is a little, which prompted Congress to investigate Apple several times.

The same is true in Europe and Apple's operations that are managed from Ireland, which provide the company with the lowest possible taxes. Therefore, the apple sells devices in various countries of the old continent at the lowest possible costs. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others use the same method in countries such as Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Even in America itself, companies are exploiting a legal loophole that says that if the amounts do not enter America, then there are no taxes. Consequently, Apple sells around the world and keeps money abroad, so it doesn't pay taxes in America.

In Europe, Apple paid 5 billion euros in taxes between 2003-2014 ... Can you imagine this !!! Now it is required to pay the differences amounting to 13 billion euros.

Governments are looking for a solution to these loopholes, which have made companies that make billions pay less taxes than companies that make millions


Conflict of privacy and security

This double conflict is the only one we see from both sides. On the one hand, companies accuse governments of forcing them into security cooperation and spying on their customers. We saw Apple's conflict with the FBI, who wanted the apple to grant him access to the iPhone, and the companies allied with Apple against the government, and the same conflict is happening now with Google, Apple responded and now stands on the side of Google, where the FBI obtained a judicial search warrant granting it to monitor an accused and asked Google to enter For his mail, but the latter refused and said that the warrant was issued by an American judge, but the servers that contain the client's mail are outside America, and accordingly, US law does not apply to them. Because of the stubbornness of the companies and their lack of cooperation enough - the companies cooperate in secret as it was leaked before - we saw leaked reports that spoke a few days ago about the NSA penetration of most applications and systems. And we've already talked about the transparency reports that show government requests -this link-.

But this conflict is double and not one-sided. There are also countries that accuse tech companies of violating the privacy of their customers. For years, the European Commission has launched a conflict against Google, accusing the Internet giant refusing to say what it does with the customer data it stores and with whom it shares the information. And here is another legal struggle against Facebook and the accusation is that the social networking site does not permanently and completely delete the posts and images, meaning that you delete a picture, but it remains on Facebook's servers without explanation of what he uses it and why he keeps it despite the owner who asked to delete it.

Governments want security oversight on some people and companies refuse to do so; The companies want to collect and use all of their users' information, and the countries reject this


Conflict of local laws

This conflict is of a very special kind. The nature of global companies makes them seek to pass a unified law that will be applied in various countries of the world, but they forget that each country has local laws and here a new struggle begins. For example, we have seen laws in Australia and some European countries saying that phones are sold with a two-year "warranty", but Apple, for example, includes the iPhone for one year. After a struggle and a threat to prevent the sale, Apple decided to amend the warranty only in these countries, which is strange. If two people buy two phones on the same day, one in America and the other in Australia, and they have the same holidays after 14 months and go to the Apple store, then the one in Australia gets a free change according to the warranty and the other pays to fix the same defect.

The matter is broader than just a guarantee, for example the German decision against Facebook, Twitter and social networking sites to fine them tens of millions of dollars in the event that they are late, failed, or failed to do enough to prevent racist posts and advocate hatred, violence and crimes. We have also seen countries that prevent the sale of the iPhone unless Apple makes investments in it, as happens with India and a few days ago with Indonesia, and from here the companies find themselves forced to invest in a specific market in order not to lose opportunities to sell their devices in it. But there are other countries that Apple managed to obtain exceptions to work on its way in it, such as Saudi Arabia, but we have not yet seen activity for the apple in the Kingdom's market, which is the largest in the Arab world. Apple faced fines in Taiwan for price interference there, and a few days ago, it faced the same issue with Russia.

Local laws collide with the way companies operate, and so far they have succeeded in confronting companies and forcing them, but will this continue?


Who will win?

This conflict is unique, as it is between countries and companies. We see countries wrestling together and companies as well, but both together. This is a rare occurrence and reminds us of Microsoft's struggle against Europe and America at the end of the previous millennium and the famous partition decision. But now it is different, governments are weaker and companies stronger. Every company has a fleet of attorneys in order to find loopholes in the laws of countries and use them against them. It even spends millions of dollars to create lobbying groups against governments. Google is the company that spends the most money officially to influence the US government and their decisions, and Apple is also famous for its wide government relations, so it is sufficient to mention that Al Gore, former US Vice President Bill Clinton, when the White House left Jobs’s appointment on the board of directors, and is still there today. She marvels when a decision is issued against Apple in favor of Samsung, and then a few days later the US President - Obama at the time - issues a veto against this decision and cancels it, and then days later you find a visit by some members of Congress to Apple's headquarters. The article is not political, but we only explain that companies will fight governments, whether with laws or with their money. Apple has more dollar reserves than the US central bank itself. So the companies wrestled Against Trump's arrival It promises to subordinate tech companies to governments, whether in the area of ​​taxation or security cooperation. Watch the "official" spending schedule for setting up anti-government lobbying groups in 2015.

What do you think of the companies' struggle with governments around the world? And who do you expect to win in this struggle?

Sources:

apple | appleThe Guardianbloomberg |rt |telegraph |cnet

Related articles