Apple CEO Tim Cook Likens iPhone Backdoor To Software Cancer

About a week ago, Apple was ordered by the courts to unlock the iPhone belonging to one of the shooters from the San Bernardino case. The Cupertino company refused and its CEO, Tim Cook, has since published a lengthy letter explaining why this is something Apple will not be doing. If that letter wasn’t enough explanation, Cook recently did an interview with ABC detailing it further.

According to Cook, he claims that the only way to access the information on the phone right now would be by creating a backdoor. However he claims that this is “bad news” and he likened it to the software equivalent of cancer. “The only way to get information – at least currently, the only way we know – would be to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the equivalent of cancer. We think it’s bad news to write. We would never write it. We have never written it – and that is what is at stake here.”

Cook goes on to state that this is more than just about protecting one device, but it is also about protecting the hundreds of millions of iPhones that the company has sold over the years. “This case is about the future. If we knew a way to get the information on the phone – that we haven’t already given – if we knew a way to do this, that would not expose hundreds of millions of other people to issues, we would obviously do it. … Our job is to protect our customers.”

The FBI’s director has since claimed that their request will not set a precedent, but a recent report from The Wall Street Journal has indicated that the US Department of Justice might actually have more phones that they want Apple to take a look at.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iOS, iPhone, Legal, Privacy, Security