Last night, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with David Muir of ABC World News to discuss the ongoing controversy between Apple and the FBI regarding iPhone encryption. By now, it’s well known that a US Federal Judge has court ordered Apple to help the FBI break into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. Apple has hired lawyers to appeal the order and argues that the case should go through Congress and the proper channels of law. The full interview with Cook was nearly 30 minutes long. ABC aired only a small portion, but you can watch the full interview below.
“The people who understand what’s at stake here support us,” said Cook as the interview immediately dives into the heart of why this controversy is taking place. He acknowledged that Apple is working against public opinion according to online polls but, “"This is not about a poll," Cook said. "This is about the future."
Tim Cook did a fantastic job addressing all sides of the issue with respect to the families who lost loved ones in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Regarding the potential of information on the shooter’s iPhone that could prevent a future terror attack, Cook acknowledged the complexity of the issue but noted that this is about the future. Cook stated, “If a court compels Apple to write this piece of software - to place a backdoor in the iPhone - we believe it does put hundreds of millions of customers as risk. In addition, If a court can ask us to write this piece of software, think about what else they could ask us to write. Maybe it’s an operating system for surveillance. Maybe it’s the ability for law enforcement to turn on the camera. I mean, I don’t know where this stops.”
On specific demands from the FBI:
Cook: What they want is, they want us to develop a new operating system that takes out the security precautions. Including the precaution that, after 10 tries, if somebody has set "erase all data after 10," they want that to not be in there. And then they want an ability to go through a number of passwords at the speed of a modern computer.
Muir: A computer would do that to figure out the code..
Cook: A computer would do that. We believe that is a very dangerous operating system
Muir: Because once people know that exists, you say, the cat is out of the bag.
Cook: If one of the bad guys knew that that existed, think about the target that is. Everybody would want that system. Because you could get in… It has the potential to get into any iPhone. This is not something that should be created.
To close:
It’s clear that it would be a precedent. New York law enforcement is already talking about having 175 phones there. Other counties across the United States are talking about phones they have. And so it is a slippery slope. I don’t fear it; it is one.
You can read more of the transcript here or watch the full interview below.
