Tim Cook: Privacy Is Worth Protecting (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous reader writes from InformationWeek: In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Apple's CEO Tim Cook talks iPhones, AI, privacy, civil rights, missteps, China, taxes, and Steve Jobs -- all without addressing rumors about the company's Project Titan electric car. One of the biggest concerns Tim Cook has is with user privacy. Earlier this year, Apple was in the news for refusing a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to unlock a suspected terrorist's iPhone because Apple argued it would affect millions of other iPhones, it was unconstitutional, and that it would weaken security for everyone. Cook told the Washington Post: "The lightbulb went off, and it became clear what was right: Could we create a tool to unlock the phone? After a few days, we had determined yes, we could. Then the question was, ethically, should we? We thought, you know, that depends on whether we could contain it or not. Other people were involved in this, too -- deep security experts and so forth, and it was apparent from those discussions that we couldn't be assured. The risk of what happens if it got out, could be incredibly terrible for public safety." Cook suggest that customers rely on companies like Apple to set up privacy and security protections for them. "In this case, it was unbelievably uncomfortable and not something that we wished for, wanted -- we didn't even think it was right. Honestly? I was shocked that [the FBI] would even ask for this," explained Cook. "That was the thing that was so disappointing that I think everybody lost. There are 200-plus other countries in the world. Zero of them had ever asked [Apple to do] this." Privacy is a right to be protected, believes Cook: "In my point of view, [privacy] is a civil liberty that our Founding Fathers thought of a long time ago and concluded it was an essential part of what it was to be an American. Sort of on the level, if you will, with freedom of speech, freedom of the press."

Comments

Re:I think I found the problem

[dgatwood]

To be fair, the iPhone in question lacked the secure enclave. The techniques to crack into it would not work with newer hardware. It is still an open question whether other techniques could compromise current hardware—though to be fair, that is always the case with new technology up until the point when somebody comes up with a way to break it, so I guess that isn't really saying anything. :-)

Something he and I agree on.

[Chas]

I don't care for Cook personally, or Apple, or the entire Apple-sphere.

But this is one thing he and I have a meeting of the minds on.

My privacy is valuable. Which is why I'm so parsimonious doling out pieces of it. Why the hell should I have to submit five forms of identification, provide blood, sperm and stool samples, open up my financial data back to the date of my birth, get a hundred and thirteen character witnesses, etc, etc just to participate online?

Fuck that noise. I'd rather shiver in a cave in the woods.

On top of that, my privacy also protects me from theft of my identity and, theoretically, also provides protection against illegal behavior by bad actors with government credentials. Hence, it guards my freedom.

And don't tell me it never happens. It does.

If you have zero use for your freedoms, rights and liberties, by all means. Go ahead and shotgun all your data to the Internet.

But the second you (or anyone (and I mean ANYONE) else) demands that I do the same, you're going to be met with a giant "fuck you" and a fist in the face.