news | Apple store rallies reveal wider rights issue

A reporter interviews an activist outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. Credit: Author

NEW YORK—A small knot of about 20 people stood outside the flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue early Tuesday evening to show solidarity with Apple as it continues to fight a government request to unlock an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, the shooter in the San Bernardino attacks. Although the debate centers around Apple’s refusal to bypass or disable security features in the shooter’s smartphone, activists at the rally revealed a deeper, ideological debate about privacy, security, and government overreach in the digital age.

opinion | Apple’s opposition to unlocking shooter's iPhone is all for show—and that’s a good thing

In an open letter released early Wednesday morning, Apple has refused a court order to unlock an iPhone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, the shooter in the San Bernardino mass shooting. Although its opposition to the FBI is largely for show, Apple is right in taking a principled stance against the government.

analysis | Why your hull insurance policy doesn’t actually cover main engine breakdown.

Here’s a quick way to tell if you’re part of the maritime industry. Read the below and ask yourself: Does any of it make sense to you?

If you have better luck reading Egyptian hieroglyphs, congratulations. Your sanity is intact, you lead a fulfilling life, and you probably have a full head of hair to boot. If it does make sense, you have my sympathy: you’re one of the poor guys dealing with the wonderful world of maritime claims.

Here’s an excerpt from the TAYLOR form, a standard hull insurance policy.

Try to stay awake.

“This insurance also covers loss of or damage to the vessel named herein directly caused by: Breakdown of motor generators or other electrical machinery and electrical connections thereto, bursting of boilers, breakage of shafts, or any latent defect in the machinery or hull, (excluding the cost and expense of replacing or repairing the defective part);”

Maritime claims handlers will recognize it as “the bit in the policy that provides coverage for breakdown of the main engine.”

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t actually provide coverage for main engine breakdown.

Companies that for years have incorporated the standard TAYLOR 1953 (Rev. 70) into their policies—the boilerplate used by insurance policies around the nation—have been writing policies of hull insurance that may not provide coverage for engine breakdown.