Tim Cook’s Apple will ‘stay on the path’ of encryption to protect user privacy
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has thrown a spanner in the works of US and UK government plans to ban encrypted services – which they argue mask illicit activities from terrorists and criminal enterprises – by insisting his company will continue to offer them.
Cook, speaking earlier this week at Epic's Champions of Freedom event in Washington said that customers should not have to “make tradeoffs between privacy and security”.
TechCrunch reports he stated that Apple was to continue encrypting its services to protect users’ rights: “Some in Washington are hoping to undermine the ability of ordinary citizens to encrypt their data; we think this is incredibly dangerous.
“We’ve been offering encryption tools in our products for years, and we’re going to stay on that path. We think it’s a critical feature for our customers who want to keep their data secure."
He added: “For years we’ve offered encryption services like iMessage and FaceTime because we believe the contents of your text messages and your video chats is none of our business.”
Concluding that “the bad guys would still encrypt” even if regular smartphone users were locked out of such services.