In an interview published on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed his commitment to consumer data privacy.
In the second of a two-part interview with The Telegraph, Cook stated that he believes everyone should have the right to keep their personal data private.
“None of us should accept that the government or a company or anybody should have access to all of our private information. This is a basic human right. We all have a right to privacy. We shouldn’t give it up. We shouldn’t give in to scare-mongering or to people who fundamentally don’t understand the details.”
Government agencies around the world have been pushing companies to install backdoors into their software as they believe it will help prevent acts of terrorism. However, Cook does not believe that governments need access to this private information in order to combat terrorists.
“Terrorists will encrypt. They know what to do. If we don’t encrypt, the people we affect [by cracking down on privacy] are the good people. They are the 99.999pc of people who are good.
You don’t want to eliminate everyone’s privacy. If you do, you not only don’t solve the terrorist issue but you also take away something that is a human right. The consequences of doing that are very significant.”
Cook’s philosophy is very much present in Apple’s products. For example, the company does not collect any data from any Apple Pay transactions.
Do you think a threat of terrorism should allow governments to force users to give up their privacy? Let us know in the comments below.
