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With the conflict between Apple and the FBI an important question has arisen. What is so important about privacy? There are many answers to this question, but we are going to look at it from the view of Apple.
This issue about privacy in Apple is not new. It goes back a ways. The following video is of an interview with Steve Jobs from 2010. He explains the important that Apple puts on privacy.
Apple has a page on there site stating their commitment to our privacy. Tim Cook wrote this letter and says in there:
Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all our hardware, software, and services, including iCloud and new services like Apple Pay. And we continue to make improvements. Two-step verification, which we encourage all our customers to use, in addition to protecting your Apple ID account information, now also protects all of the data you store and keep up to date with iCloud.
We believe in telling you up front exactly what’s going to happen to your personal information and asking for your permission before you share it with us. And if you change your mind later, we make it easy to stop sharing with us. Every Apple product is designed around those principles. When we do ask to use your data, it’s to provide you with a better user experience.
The company also has a page that shows the requests that they have had from the government/law enforcement. On their it shows why they cannot comply to the recent FBI demands with this paragraph:
On devices running iOS 8 and later versions, your personal data is placed under the protection of your passcode. For all devices running iOS 8 and later versions, Apple will not perform iOS data extractions in response to government search warrants because the files to be extracted are protected by an encryption key that is tied to the user’s passcode, which Apple does not possess.
Why should we worried about privacy?
We should only share our data with apps when we want to. It should not be to where they automatically
We should only share our data with apps when we want to. It should not be to where they automatically
Apple vs. the FBI, New developments
Recently, the FBI released a press statement explaining why they reset the iCloud password. They said:
Through previous testing, we know that direct data extraction from an iOS device often provides more data than an iCloud backup contains. Even if the password had not been changed and Apple could have turned on the auto-backup and loaded it to the cloud, there might be information on the phone that would not be accessible without Apple’s assistance as required by the All Writs Act order, since the iCloud backup does not contain everything on an iPhone. As the government’s pleadings state, the government’s objective was, and still is, to extract as much evidence as possible from the phone.
Apple has been given until Friday to respond to the order, but they are expected to formally reject the order in court.
This issue has gone to far and the FBI has overreached its powers. We believe the FBI is trying to extend their power under the All Writs Act. Stand with Apple and sign this petition. Thanks for reading!