“Shrugging off a grueling week that left his voice weary and body slightly slumped, Tim Cook glowed when an investor broached the topic of Apple’s showdown with the FBI during its shareholders meeting here earlier this month,” Jon Swartz reports for USA Today. “Bolting straight and adding timbre to his soft Southern accent, Apple’s CEO explained why so much is at stake in fighting the FBI’s request it unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers. ‘We are a staunch advocate of privacy,’ Cook said. ‘We do these things because they are right.'”
“In public settings, letters and testimony, Cook has been using the pulpit of Apple to emerge as one of the world’s most outspoken corporate executives on privacy and other social issues,” Swartz reports. “For Cook and Apple, taking on the government is fraught with risk. The U.S. often wins legal conflicts with individual companies. But there is an upside to Cook’s gambit: It’s good for business — buyers of Apple’s high-end electronic devices are sticklers for privacy, especially those overseas — and it has cemented Cook’s status as the tech industry’s leading voice for protecting the personal data of consumers.”
“Before Cook, Apple was a company that reflected the passion of Steve Jobs: The news that emanated from Cupertino, Calif., was product launch, product launch, product launch. The rare Jobs interview was comprised of him commenting on a new gizmo, and nothing else,” Swartz reports. “Today the narrative has changed dramatically…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We miss Steve Jobs every day, but we are extremely thankful to have Tim Cook serving as Apple’s current CEO.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
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The full list of who’s for Apple and who’s for U.S. government overreach – March 7, 2016
Apple case exposes ongoing rift in Obama administration over encryption policy – March 7, 2016
Apple VP: It’s so disappointing that the U.S. government wants us to sell less-secure technologies – March 7, 2016
Why Apple should hold firm against U.S. government overreach – March 6, 2016
Why even Apple’s mortal enemies are lining up to protest U.S. government overreach – March 4, 2016