Apple chief executive Tim Cook said that there should not have to be a trade-off between national security and personal privacy.
Posted on 02/13/2015 5:07:05 PM PST by Swordmaker
Summary:The Apple boss said people have entrusted the company with their most personal bits of information. "We owe them nothing less than the best protections we can possibly provide."
In a speech as part of a cybersecurity summit hosted by The White House at Stanford University, the Apple boss said history has shown that sacrificing rights to privacy can have "dire consequences" on society.
"We risk something far more valuable than money. We risk our way of life," he said.
"We shouldn't have to trade our security for all of this information at our fingertips. When a system is designed properly, security and convenience can actually work in harmony," he added.
The summit is President Obama's opportunity to make the case for a collaborative approach to protecting private industry from cyberattacks at a cybersecurity summit at Stanford University.
Obama signed an executive order Friday allowing private companies and technology firms to share more cyber-threat data with each other and government agencies. It comes in the wake of recent high profile hacks against Sony Pictures and health insurance firm Anthem.
But Cook was the only Silicon Valley chief executive to attend the cybersecurity summit, with leaders from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook choosing to send senior security executives in their places -- possibly because of continued anger over historical government intrusions into their systems.
Cook's critique comes almost two years after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed wide-ranging domestic surveillance programs that tapped data from Silicon Valley companies. Apple was named in the leaked slides that detailed the PRISM surveillance program.
"Our customers' trust means everything to us. And we've spent decades earning that trust," Cook said.
He also reiterated the company's business model is not focused on collecting user data or selling that information to advertisers or third-parties.
"We know hackers are trying everything they can to steal your data," Cook said. "The personal impact on these breaches can be devastating."
In other news, Cook -- signaling a thawing of relations with the government -- said Apple Pay will later this year allow mobile payments from federal institutions, like national parks.
Ha, I placed a phone order thru apple store online. I repeat, I placed the order over the phone, giving my Corp. Card numbers verbally to get parts locally that day.
Three days later I got a call from fraud protection...it seems some enterprising person had attempted to use those numbers over a dozen times for purchases over 2k in charges directly following that transaction.I had not used the card since early Dec
Seems to me the security problem apple has is in their own house.
I hear you.
It’s like a drug company that has the cure and needs to introduce the disease.
They sell this crap because they can.
They sell this crap because increasingly more and more people are willing to admit that that are clueless.
More and more people not only don’t understand what is happening, they don’t want to take the time to understand.
You're not paying attention. That raw data you are talking about that Apple gets from its customers is already encrypted to 256 bit AES standards using the user's passcode entangled with the devices internal 128 character UUID before Apple ever gets it. Even Apple cannot decipher it without the user's passcode. . . and it must be deciphered ON the device! If Apple shares that raw data with the government, I for one don't give a damn. They are welcome to try deciphering it.
If the government's Supercomputers are capable of checking 50,000 possible keys every second, it would take them 10207 years to try every possible combination. They might get lucky and hit it in a week, but it's more likely that every atom in the Universe will have decomposed to all of its sub-atomic particles and the Universe will have died from heat death than they hit the right one! By that time I think the need to know what's in your files might be moot.
I'd suspect the phone being tapped before Apple's system being compromised. . . Or it being a coincidence. I had a credit card I had not used in ten months compromised just last week. Apple has over 800,000,000 credit cards on file and has not had a security breach. Not even AMAZON has that many cards on file without a breach. It's one of the reasons the banks are willing to accept the security of ApplePay.
There have been reported suspected individual breaches such as yours in the past, but the banks have found the problem has always been elsewhere.
Now, exactly what "parts" could you buy from Apple. Apple does not sell "parts" locally through the Apple Store for local pick-up. In fact, Apple does not sell computers or other goods through their online store for local pickup "that day." So, now tell us, why should we believe this story????
Frankly, I dont believe a word of it!
> In other news, Cook — signaling a thawing of relations with the government — said Apple Pay will later this year allow mobile payments from federal institutions, like national parks.
Tim Cook is also a CEO, so he answers to Apple’s board of shareholders, which can vote him out of being CEO if they wish. I mean, the board did vote out Steve Jobs in the past, before welcoming him back in when they were grasping for anything to reverse their downward spiral. I am pretty sure that Cook wants to stick with Steve Jobs’ general plan, because that was what the shareholders want, AFAIK.
Isn’t the American free enterprise system GREAT ... where a company makes a product that a huge majority of the consumers want and the company makes a BOATLOAD of money?! Hooray for Apple and the success it’s been in America. That’s what we want for all other companies here so they can employ many Americans and earn investors money and make consumers happy. That’s a WIN ... all the way around!!
Seriously? You think we should offshore all of our manufacturing?
I doubt, too, that Apple had anything to do with it. But, I don’t doubt that the card had unauthorized charges. You read about that happening all the time. Now, I also know that the card company won’t tell you where the compromise happened, even when they know it. They just won’t tell you ... SO ... people have to SPECULATE on where it happened with their card. The fact of the matter is that the customer just doesn’t know.
THAT MEANS we can’t put any solid validity to the story of the problem being with Apple ... not because “this customer” didn’t have a card problem, but rather, that it’s literally IMPOSSIBLE for him to “know” where the problem stemmed from. It’s all speculation and guessing ... :-) ...
It was just a couple of months ago, that my card was refused at a store and I called the card company. They said it had been compromised ... but ... there were no unauthorized charges on it. So, my speculation was that the card was one of those compromised at Home Depot, since I had a few charges with them and they had a big breach in security. I think the card company just took measures after the breach and replaced all those cards. That was “my speculation” as the card company WOULD NOT TELL ME!
As soon as the USA fixes the tax system to make it better here and also the regulations involved for setting up those factories, then fine ... I’m sure Apple and ALL THOSE OTHER COMPANIES who do that will come back here.
BUT ... as it stands right now, Apple is ALREADY employing a HUMONGOUS number of people here in the USA and is manufacturing here, too, for some of their products! It’s ALREADY HAPPENING with Apple!
You said ... “Three days later I got a call from fraud protection...”
JUST THINK ... if you had been able to use Apple Pay all along (which was just released recently) it would not have been possible to compromise your card that way!
What percentage of Apple's workforce, direct and contracted, are US citizens?
"HUMONGOUS" is what's known as a "glittering generality", and not worth spit.
The numbers have been posted many times ... LOL ...mans those numbers are HUMONGOUS! ... :-) ...
I just check via the apple store app. It says I can order and pickup a MacBook air at my local store today.
Congratulations! I know you’ll enjoy it!
Prove it. Show me those numbers.
Then go buy a Samsung, makers of a TV that records and sells your living room conversations. At least their CEO isn't a butt rumper.
As much as I mourn the loss of American manufacturing, it should be noted that you can buy a pretty good HDTV these days for about 2 weeks worth of pay. I remember when a color TV cost 3-4 months salary.
Ummm ... Swordmaker ... here’s a poster who has NEVER SEEN the numbers posted on these Apple threads ... about the HUMONGOUS number of people employed by Apple here in the good ole USA ...
That’s kinda hard to believe, since I’ve seen you post it many times. I guess it just goes to show you that no matter how many times these Apple-haters show up on these Apple threads, they just NEVER pay attention to the details that show how wrong they are ... LOL ...
Thanks for posting it ONCE AGAIN for about the 100th time!
[... it’s per Post #32 ...]
That's one of the circuses.
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