Apple is widely rumored to unveil a new NFC-based mobile payments service tied into the iPhone and iWatch later today.
But there’s a problem. In the aftermath of the Fappening, the massive iCloud breach that leaked nude and pornographic images of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and more, it’s bad timing. Apple’s name is synonymous in the news with security breaches right now. People may not want to trust the company with their financial data if Apple can’t even protect the nudes of celebrities.
So maybe Apple shouldn’t push payments during today’s big event. Or at least not at first. Maybe Tim Cook should apologize instead.
The Magazine publisher Glenn Fleishman posted what he thinks Cook should say in the aftermath of the iCloud breach, and it’s a killer apology, a vow to do better and a statement of outrage, all in one.
Here’s what Fleischman thinks should be said at the beginning of today’s event:
You’ve seen all the coverage about hacked accounts and stolen private images and data. We at Apple are appalled about this and as soon as we were alerted, began days of auditing, and immediately fixed problems that abetted the password cracking related to iCloud that led to some of these breaches.
You trust us with your most personal details, and we take this seriously. The possession and disclosure of private data is a crime. Make no mistake: This isn’t funny and the victims should not be blamed for trusting us and others. No one should be sniggering, shaming, or pointing figures. Criminals stole people’s information and then released it. We will do everything in our power to assist law enforcement to track them down for prosecution.
We have already taken some steps, and in the next two weeks will take more. We can do better.
To me, this reads exactly like something Cook would say: blunt, powerful, apologetic, honest and human. It’s the kind of apology Steve Jobs would never in a million years issue, which is part of what sets Cook apart from his predecessor.
What do you think? Would an apology from Cook make you more likely to trust Apple in the future, especially with something like payments?
Source: Glenn Fleishman
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
30 responses to “Should Tim Cook apologize for the Fappening at today’s iPhone 6 event?”
No, they shouldn’t apologize, just fix the problem and move forward, if they apologize then that becomes the story. I not sure they should even mention it at all, unless there is a specific time when they are discussing general security. To bring it up as a separate issue would be a bad move.
This could have happened to any service. I was not an “iCloud breach”, let alone a “massive” one! You my friend, seem like an Apple basher hiding behind your keyboard. Apple has nothing to apologize for.
Exactly
No the celebs should apologize for using security answers that can easy be looked up online and stop pretending to be completely innocent. I mean they did take them and save them in the first place.
You are joking, right?
No, though he could turn this into an opportunity enhance awareness of security.
Thats what will most likely happen.
Actually, Tim Cook already wrote an apology quite similar to this one. So no, he won’t address it once over again at the keynote. Why should he?
it’s not even apple’s fault that the celebrities had really shit passwords
I’m sorry you were too dumb to have nude photos on your phone and an easy password to guess… how about not.
This was a stupid blog entry.
Apologize? For what? People, especially celebrities, not making strong enough passwords? I think if anything they should just be like “and please use common sense and use a strong password along with 2 step verification.”
Stop with the misinformation. Those celebrities were phished and nothing more. There was no “breach” of the ICloud servers. If you understand anything about the web, then you know the difference. I will say that this is the most hyped up announcement / launch that I’ve seen from Apple in a VERY long time. It’s ripe for disappointment since all the rumors have set the bar unreachably high. Most of what you’ll hear afterwards is complaints about how the products don’t live up to the rumor mill. They’re in a no win situation. What happened to confidentiality agreements..? They used to be good at keeping stuff under wraps. The ONLY think we don’t know it seems is exactly what the “watch” will look like. I guess they need the hype since the lid has been blown off weeks ago. I just want to replace my 4S. I’ll be happy with that.
Just like everything else, it’s never your fault it’s someone else’s. Apple shouldn’t even be mentioned in this story or the icloud being blamed for a security breach. Just about very site uses these password practices and if you are famous, you most likely have the name of your dog, or the name of your third grade teacher somewhere on the internet. If you are going to these kinds of pictures or any data on a networed device, learn how to protect yourself.
There is ZERO reason for them to apologize.
That’s not strictly true. IMO it’s on Apple if they let someone guess your password a million times and don’t even alert you.
They’ve probably already fixed it and I don’t think overall it’s Apples “fault”. But they are not completely innocent either.
Thats not how the “hack” works… They reset the celebrity icloud accounts using security questions and personal information. After 3 failed attempts they notify you via email. These celebrities weren’t smart enough to not use things like “street I grew up on” and “mother’s maiden name”. Then they used an unnamed app, which im sure you can google that downloaded backups from icloud which include videos.photos.contacts.and messages.
This is completely link bait for sure… “Massive iCloud breach” is really just untrue. This really used to be called Slander or defamation.
If someone steals your keys, it’s not the lock manufacturer’s fault your house gets robbed.
He shouldn’t apologize because there’s nothing to apologize about.
It wasn’t a security breach at iCloud.
Not do i think saying so blames the victim– how about putting the blame on the criminal that actually committed the crime? crazy concept I know.
Apple never blamed the victims, it simply said there was no widespread iCloud hack, it was a bunch of criminals motivated to spend time and resources figuring out passwords and answers for celebrities. It was the Apple-hating media that made it seem Apple blamed the victims when it didn’t.
Nor would the people asking for an apology be pacified– they will simply say, “Apple finally apologizes for iCloud security holes” or something equally negative.
There was a time when apologizing meant something, when doing it satisfied people and ended the matter. That hasn’t been true for a long time now. Apologies now are viewed as an admission of guilt that mandates greater criticism than before the apology. Hate to say this, but it’s true.
Want completely safe passwords? That’s easy. Apple can spit out a random 15-digit password for you to remember and that’s your password. then it will send an email to your email account which you have to access, using your email account password, to give you a 5 digit code to enter. Sound good?
This is getting silly…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29124991
C’mon apple. Please use Touch ID as an end to end encryption service
No they shouldn’t. First because it could have happened to any service, but specially because it wasn’t an iCloud breach. It was proven that some of the photos were old or from other smartphones. It wasn’t a recent problem with iCloud. People have been trading nude celeb photos for a long time, just because someone decided to dump a bunch of them it doesn’t mean it was Apple’s or iCloud’s fault. If there’s any problem with iCloud, they can just fix it and move forward. This keynote is about iOS, iPhone and, hopefully, some other new products. Let them focus on that.
Please stop calling it that.
There is no problem and there’s nothing to fix. Celebrities were hacked. iCould was not hacked. If you knew my email and the password that I use on everything then you could “hack” into my iCloud account. That is what happened. iCloud was not in any way breached. The whole thing boiled down to laziness on the part of those who were infringed on.
Another piece if crap from Brownlee
I always find it amusing that a blog called “Cult of Mac” is usually one of the most critical towards Apple. Maybe someone should write and article titled “Should Cult of Mac apologize for Apple bashing?”
Since when is guessing passwords a security breach?!
Jesus John, and you call yourself a journalist? Enough with the link bait stories, we know you’re despirate for web hits. Next we’ll get stories on the name of the new royal baby too? Please stop insulting our intelligence.
Also? No one cares but you.
No. Glen. Stop trying to be Tim Cook’s speech writer.
No one has proven that Apple was to blame. Relax and stick to reporting the facts.
that’s ridiculous….why should he apologize for the celebrities weak passwords?