Apple CEO Tim Cook has posted an open letter on Apple.com. Here it is, verbatim:
At Apple, your trust means everything to us. That’s why we respect your privacy and protect it with strong encryption, plus strict policies that govern how all data is handled.
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.
We’re publishing this website to explain how we handle your personal information, what we do and don’t collect, and why. We’re going to make sure you get updates here about privacy at Apple at least once a year and whenever there are significant changes to our policies.
A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.
Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.
One very small part of our business does serve advertisers, and that’s iAd. We built an advertising network because some app developers depend on that business model, and we want to support them as well as a free iTunes Radio service. iAd sticks to the same privacy policy that applies to every other Apple product. It doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.
Finally, I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.
Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn’t come easy. That’s why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.
Tim
Apple’s Privacy webpages are here.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Your move, Google.
(Google depriving itself of data is like a vampire eschewing blood.)
Related article:
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants – September 18, 2014
You see that? Follow the money. How do you think these guys make billions of dollars selling junk or giving those so called cool services away for free? Don’t be a clueless drone. 😊
I’m trying to get all my friends to read this.
Excellent letter. I am glad that Tim is responding in a clear, concise manner. Hopefully this will help counter all of the FUD we are seeing in ads.
This is absolutely fantastic. Apple has drawn a line in the sand that will be a defining moment in privacy on the Internet.
Way to go Apple, of course that’s been the approach since day one. Privacy is worth fighting for.
“We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”
Unless, of course, a judge in some court somewhere orders us to. Then, you are on your own.
The ONLY reason Tim is issuing this half-true message is because people are real worried about their privacy and they should be! Tim can’t stop the hacking either. So, good luck with your faith in him or the company.
Oh Jay, voting for yourself!
Tsk, tsk!
Back to being a real asshole aren’t you Jay. I (and others) left you some feedback at your post “Walt Mossberg reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPhone 6: ‘The best smartphone on the market’” in response to your comment about the Watch being a “clunky wrist decoration”.
And the crickets chirped.
Then you posted more inane droolings about HealthKit being broken and always will, and no doubt in your mind it always will.
Certainly people are worried about their privacy, but when it comes to half truth it’s what you omit to say that shows you to be the asshole.
First of all, yes a judge in come court can order access to data on the cloud.
“Apple will still have the ability — and the legal responsibility — to turn over user data stored elsewhere, such as in its iCloud service, which typically includes backups of photos, videos, e-mail communications, music collections and more. Users who want to prevent all forms of police access to their information will have to adjust settings in a way that blocks data from flowing to iCloud.”
Now you point out that Tim can’t stop the hacking. What hacking? What proof do you have that there is hacking and where? If you put your money where your mouth is Jay it will impress, continue your slander the way you have, well I’m getting some real faith based on the years or reading you.
Your input and style of communication over the years has contributed to my belief that:
1. Tim Cook is a great leader (minimal input here, I am just looking at what Tim Cook (and Apple) does. The money I have in the stock and the dividends I receive shows that my faith is well placed. I’l made well over my initial investment. Money talks Jay a lot more than your hot air.
2. You are an asshole, and my faith in you being a total fucking asshole is really strong right now. You’ve had a few moments of lucid conversation but I’ve concluded that you are a major whiner and nay sayer and that’s by giving you a lot and I mean a lot of the benefit of the doubt. By all means, continue to post your drooling diatribe because the more you badmouth Apple the more I smile knowing that I am backing the right horse. Just don’t expect any attempts of civil conversation anymore on my part. You’ve more than illustrated that you are worthy of something totally different.
And that’s being called a FUCKING ASSHOLE.
Congratulations asshole, you’ve really worked hard for it.
Your reasoned response to my comments is totally lost in the vileness of your hate speech. Same goes for those who think you deserve their approval. Very appalling picture of yourself that you paint.
There is significant support on my take of the quality of Tim’s leadership and the over hyped characterizations of Apple products that we ALL expect to be the best they are among all competitors. So, what we are getting is exactly what we expect. Tim’s job is to exceed our expectations if he want’s to continue to build on the reputation and legacy of the extraordinary company now under his control. Whenever he does that, I will take my considerable AAPL profits and happily disappear from your view and you can quit wasting your time responding to me – something you ought to do anyway.
In the meantime, as long as we keep getting ordinary, expected and sometimes late arriving tweaks and updates to existing products and now a new one, by his own description, that took 2-3 years to develop and is relatively useless without the accompanying phone, there’s reason to look beyond the whooping and hollering of his employees gathered in a theater to create the impression that there’s something really amazing being announced. P. T. Barnum has this big grin on his face about now that his business model has proven what a genius he was in fomenting a crowd of lemmings that faithfully celebrated his circus again and again and again even though the elephants in the room had grown very familiar except for a new trick or two.
Hate speech? HATE? Jay, are you serious? You really don’t see your hate and villification of TC and the mainstream MDN posters do you? It really is obsessive, and if you really believe YOU see the truth, look up a word that is you: narcissistic. I’m not kidding.
AS to your “formenting a crowd of lemmings” comment.
In 2006, there were probably about 10,000,000 Apple lemmings as you describe them. Today, with the iPhone and iPad, I believe it would be very safe to say 150,000,000 million. Since when is 150,000,000 people “lemmings”? Obviously you are out if touch with reality when so many of the PC world jump ship and so many non tech users come on board. THAT is not lemmings, that is technology. It did not plateau with TC coming on either!
The profits since SJ’s death, the continued sales in the face of courts that are obviously anti-Apple, the twisting of facts and “real” sales of android “smartphones and tablets”, the lack of 64bit in the other world and Apple’s status being head and shoulders and torso and legs and feet above the nearest competitor quality, quantity and profit wise flies straight in the face of your spiel.
I often go to the links of the sites listed here at MDN and read the comments. Yours does not sound like a disgruntaled Apple user but more directly in line with Fandroids.
You tried that response before Jay, and it worked the first time, but not this time.
Reasoned responses don’t get any reply from you. Attempting to engage you in civil conversation gets nowhere with you. Case in point (and this is just the latest in a string of them) is the “Walt Mossberg reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPhone 6: ‘The best smartphone on the market’” where you spewed your hate and disdain for Tim Cook.
I won’t quote all the drivel but right off the bat your first comment I gather about the Watch was “clunky wrist decoration”. I replied in a courteous manner tried to engage what has been your main criticism objectively…and the crickets chirped.
Next up is the “Apple delays HealthKit service after discovering early bug” thread where you went on to spew your disdain and hatred with a classic ” who cares if the HealthKit software is broken? It will always be broken. Always.” amongst other drivel. Again anyone trying to engage in a constructive conversation with you gets the crickets chirping.
I knew from a while back that calling you a fucking asshole woke you up and for a while you were lucid. Now you are back to spewing your vile hate speeches and like the bully you are when I shove it back into your face you cry and whine like the baby bully you are. Not only are you an asshole Jay Morrison but going back to your previous attempt at self righteousness and smoke and distraction makes you a STUPID asshole.
So feel free to dig your hole deeper with your redundant posts and whine heck that is what free will is for. I prefer to move on forward.
I thank you for your suggestion about not responding to you and thinking that it’s a waste of time but frankly I don’t think it is, in fact I think it’s very important to stand up to bullies like you and besides I like the trolls, and most importantly, you come here spewing your vile comments and hate speech so you should expect to have that reflected back to you. It’s really your choice you see. You could have engaged in civil dialogue when I replied politely but you did not. You have replied to vile hate speech when it was given to you, so obviously that’s the level and style of communication you respond to as any fucking stupid asshole should.
So expect more, much much more Jay. You perturb a lot of folks here by your holier than thou style, your misuse of facts and your inability to engage in a civil manner.
Just remember and I’ll remind that every time I call you a fucking stupid asshole it’s because you refuse, yes you Jay refuse to be polite and courteous to people here.
The vile and the hatred originates from you Jay. You’ve been spewing it here since Tim Cook took the reigns. I doubt you’ll stop, I don’t plan to cause one thing for sure, the fine community at MDN will enjoy the popcorn.
Have a great day you very stupid fucking asshole.
You talk too much and don’t say nuthin.
There was a change after Jobs, and a reason for trust is less, despite the blind loud mouthing here. Maybe Mr. Cook was given plausible deniability, because my gut tells me a compromise was made. He does have an unshakeable duty to shareholders to not ignore lucrative deals with governments, especially if they only ask for him to look the other way for a moment.
Way to go Tim.
Off topic: upgraded to iOS8 on my iPhone 5 – now when I try to open an article your app often crashes. (This is from my laptop.)
Try doing a cold restart on your iPhone. That usually takes care of most such issues.
Big news tomorrow: Apple’s privacy politics favors terrorism, since they won’t share personal data.
That all sounds good, Tim. Now put that in your service agreements and software licenses.
Apple, like all large corporations, has a herd of lawyers who carve liability loopholes so big that any bad actor in the company who did choose to ignore privacy policies would not see any legal repercussions. All that tiny-print legalese totally undermines Tim’s message. EARN our trust, Tim, don’t just advertise a feel-good message that contradicts your user agreements.
My opinion of Tim just went up significantly.