Conservative Group At Odds With Apple, Report Says

Apple Inc. AAPL's upcoming shareholder meeting on Friday could turn political as the National Center for Public Policy Research is pushing the company to review its operations in certain high-risk regions. According to Apple Insider, the conservative think tank will propose that Apple's CEO Tim Cook review its operations in countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. Shareholders are being urged to demand the company prepare a report detailing "Apple's criteria for investing in, operating in and withdrawing from high-risk regions." The countries listed are notorious for their "questionable human rights records as it relates to suffrage, women's rights and gay rights," the think tank stated. Meanwhile, Cook questioned a proposed Indiana law that would have allowed small businesses to use religious beliefs as a defense in discrimination suits. "For example our CEO bashed state-level religious freedom laws as anti-homosexual bigotry saying, 'Apple is open. Open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. Regardless of what the law might allow in Indiana or Arkansas, we will never tolerate discrimination,'" Apple Insider quoted the think tank as saying. "Yet, according to the Washington Post, Apple has a presence in 17 countries where homosexual acts are illegal. In four of those nations, homosexual acts are punishable by death. These company operations are inconsistent with Apple's values as extolled by our CEO." "This proposal requests a report on Apple's guidelines for selecting countries for our operations," Apple responded in a regulatory filing. "We do not believe that this would be a productive use of company resources. For example, such a report would necessarily have to omit proprietary information and would therefore be an incomplete picture of our approach. Moreover, we believe that Apple's commitment to protecting and promoting human rights has already been demonstrated by both effective action and transparency about our work. Accordingly, the requested report is unnecessary and would not provide meaningful information to shareholders.