Tim Cook reportedly hit out during a meeting of White House officials with tech leaders in San Jose last week, slating the White House for its lack of leadership and insisting that the Obama administration should issue a strong public statement defending anti-encryption software.
The message Cook feels the White House ought to be giving is “no backdoors,” which would mean overruling voices like FBI director James Comey who has strongly voiced his opposition to unhackable tools like iMessage.
However, Cook’s belief that the government should stop being wishy-washy about encryption was reportedly countered during the meeting by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who responded to Cook by talking about the “balance” between privacy and national security.
Other tech companies present included representatives from Facebook, Twitter, Cloudflare, Google, Drop Box, Microsoft, and LinkedIn.
This isn’t the first time Cook has talked about the importance of privacy, and his belief in the need for strong encryption tools. During his interview with Charlie Rose on the recent “Inside Apple” episode of 60 Minutes, Apple’s CEO argued against backdoors, saying that, “If there’s a way to get in, then somebody will find the way in. There have been people that suggest that we should have a backdoor. But the reality is if you put a backdoor in, that backdoor’s for everybody, for good guys and bad guys.”
Apple has also publicly criticized the U.K.’s draft Investigatory Powers Bill, a.k.a. the “snooper’s charter,” by arguing that forcing companies to create backdoors in encryption services like iMessage could, “hurt law-abiding citizens.”
Given that the whole privacy vs. national security debate is seemingly stuck at an impasse, it’s difficult not to feel Tim Cook’s frustration. Still, to me a least, it’s great to have a well-funded corporation arguing on the side of regular citizens for once.
Do you agree with Apple’s stance on encryption? Leave your comments below.
Source: The Intercept
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Tim Cook: White House should be against software ‘backdoors’”
I for sure am using Apple’s products because of the stricter security first and foremost. Should they abandon this or be forced to open backdoors, I simply would have to walk away from the convenience of having my life in my hand and return to the dark ages of handling business.. paper, pen & snailmail.
You indeed open the backdoor to everyone if you make it available. Not only that but you get a whole new set of pseudo-hackers that will try and find a way to get in via the backdoor instead of trying to use exploits and bugs which can be much more difficult.
Any company embracing a strong encryption and no keys to get in will get my business (yeah… even Google).
Does this mean that the law enforcement agencies cannot do their job?
You just need to look at any intelligence agency in the world today to see that, strong encryption isn’t keeping them from getting to the people they want…
I agree. I also agree that the government should be against companies like Apple stealing that encryption technology from companies like VirnetX and not paying them for it. And while they are at it, they should be against giant tax avoidance scams.
The tax avoidance issue is a complex one. The problem seems to be that it’s not really a “scam” at all. Certainly it’s something not available to us as citizens and tax-payers, but Apple is (as far as I’m aware) paying all the money it has to by law. It would be doing its shareholders a disservice if it voluntarily paid more tax than it needed to. The problem is arcane international tax laws which allow this kind of thing to happen. Attacking Apple for working within the existing system seems a whole lot like treating the symptoms of a disease without looking for the underlying pathology.
True. They are also “within the law” in China with their treatment of workers. If workers want to kill themselves, so be it. Apple didn’t break any laws.
Thank you.
I will put my bullshit right here, thank you very much. The “they did it too” defense of Apple is just wonderful. Admirable position to take.
You kiss Tim Cook’s ass with that filthy mouth?#Classy
It would appear that you are the troll here, having done nothing but spout your angry-man vitriol.