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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."
Unfortunately, the fact that privacy is worth a lot is why so many people are trying to sell our privacy to the highest bidders.
Could we create a tool to unlock the phone? After a few days, we had determined yes, we could.
Now there's your problem. You should not be *able* to unlock it by any known means and this approach should be supported by both software and hardware design. Design a phone that you *can not* open even upon request and you've solved the problem in the best possible way.
-SR
Me: No it's not
The fact you are posting AC rebuts your claim far better than I could.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Apple certainly has no shortage of issues to criticize them on. But on the issue of privacy and making the iPhone backdoor-able, at least they were smart enough to know what they could not know and could not control, and to want no part of it.
And what they were smart enough to know is that no government authority, no matter how secure and authoritative it claims to be, can control all of its own people and the hundreds of places that a backdoor capability might leak or be used improperly. The FBI cannot even control leaks and incompetence within their own ranks -- what's the likelihood that a capability so valuable would remain unleaked and well-protected in their hands, even with many checks?
So I applaud Apple for at least knowing that it should not develop such a capability and instead leave it in the hands of users to choose when to make things private, out of even Apple's reach.
There have always been secrets, and people trying to foil the methods of hiding them. Time for the government to do a bit more legwork for the next move.
You fools. Apple's security and privacy are to protect the walled garden. They keep "your data" private to prevent their competition from monetizing you. They keep "your phone" secure to protect the walled garden. There is not an ounce of concern about your dignity or rights; this is 100% about greedily protecting their revenue stream.