Tim Cook Tells Utah Tech Audience: Encryption 'Makes the Public Safe'

[MacRumors]

Apple CEO Tim Cook drew cheers from a Salt Lake City audience on Friday as he reiterated the company's unwavering commitment to encryption and privacy protections for its customers, according to local media reports.

The comments were made during a Q&A session at the yearly meeting of the Utah Technology Council (UTC), a trade and advocacy group representing more than 5,000 technology and life-sciences companies across the U.S. state. The 55-year-old CEO was invited along with Utah senator Orrin Hatch to take the stage at the Grand America Hotel and field questions from a public audience.

Tim Cook in Q&A with senator Orrin Hatch​

Calling encryption "one of the biggest issues we face," the CEO noted that most iPhone users have more personal data on their phones than in their homes. "Encryption is one of the things that makes the public safe," he said. "We feel we have a responsibility to protect our customers."

"We believe the only way to protect both your privacy and safety from a cyberattack is to encrypt," Cook told about 1,400 industry executives, tech workers and Apple fans. "We throw all of ourselves into this and are very much standing on principle in this."

Cook was responding to questions regarding the lingering impact of Apple's dispute with the FBI over the agency's demand that it build a "back door" into its software, following the use of a locked iPhone by the primary suspect in the San Bernardino mass shooting last December.

Apple refused to comply with the request from the federal agency, which dropped its pursuit of the company when investigators apparently discovered another way to retrieve the data on the suspect's phone.

Senator Hatch and @tim_cook greeted a group of elementary and middle school students earlier for some selfies. #UtahTechTour #UTC #utpol pic.twitter.com/r1q4A8CrwD - Senator Hatch Office (@SenOrrinHatch) October 1, 2016

During the Q&A session, Cook also talked up the emerging field of augmented reality and underscored the importance of digital photo technology in preserving personal memories, which led him onto the subject of Apple's co-founder, Cook's late friend and colleague, Steve Jobs.

The CEO spoke fondly of keeping the former chairman's office intact at the company's Cupertino campus in California, where Jobs' personal knickknacks remain in place five years after his death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

"His spirit will always be the DNA of the company," said Cook. "Jobs' vision was to make the best products that enrich people's lives. Lots of things will change with Apple, but that will never change."

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook Tells Utah Tech Audience: Encryption 'Makes the Public Safe'

 

[RedOrchestra]

he reiterated the company's unwavering commitment to encryption and privacy protections for its customers

REALLY ... then how about eliminating the iMessage Ping logs after one day.

 

[justperry]

Shame people never dare to ask the right questions, actually, I think they do but won't get through.

 

[RedOrchestra]

The CEO spoke fondly of keeping the former chairman's office intact at the company's Cupertino campus in California, where Jobs' personal knickknacks remain in place five years after his death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

Sounds like a real testy Q&A. I wonder if everyone found a free iPhone under their seats a la Oprah,

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Tim Cook Tells Utah Tech Audience: Encryption 'Makes the Public Safe'

For example:
http://blog.elcomsoft.com/2016/09/ios-10-security-weakness-discovered-backup-passwords-much-easier-to-break/

...We looked into it, and found out that the new mechanism skips certain security checks, allowing us to try passwords approximately 2500 times faster compared to the old mechanism used in iOS 9 and older....

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Hm. So, Orrin Hatch wants to understand & takes the initiative to find out. Not, any of the other senators or congressmen who've taken a position on this. Orrin Hatch. Born in 1934.

If congress or the greater gov are both hoping to to have a say in imposing their will over this rapidly changing technological age and remain relevant at all, then Silicon Valley needs to host an annual clinic for congress to give them some idea of what they're opining (& voting) on.

Nice to see someone taking an effort... kind of shocking that out of all of them, it's Orrin Hatch.

 

[thermodynamic]

Sounds like a real testy Q&A. I wonder if everyone found a free iPhone under their seats a la Oprah,

Very tasty. People love to be spoonfed manure that tastes like chicken.

Cook can stop cooking the truth whenever he wants. He will step on customers, he will even throw Clinton under the bus if it helped his company's snowflaky stock. Apple's history of privacy (and taxes) shows Apple does things only for Apple's benefits, while trying to sell to customers and government what they wants to hear. But blame them for everything and/or try to bamboozle a "solution" when something goes wrong as opposed to taking actual responsibility (which, once again, hurts their stock - the only thing they ever give a crap about.)

[doublepost=1475324463][/doublepost]

Hm. So, Orrin Hatch wants to understand & takes the initiative to find out. Not, any of the other senators or congressmen who've taken a position on this. Orrin Hatch. Born in 1934.

If congress or the greater gov are both hoping to to have a say in imposing their will over this rapidly changing technological age and remain relevant at all, then Silicon Valley needs to host an annual clinic for congress to give them some idea of what they're opining (& voting) on.

Nice to see someone taking an effort... kind of shocking that out of all of them, it's Orrin Hatch.

No shock at all, so given the rating of congress and what they vote on. The question is, why is he believed at face value?

And nobody cares in what year he was born. Care more about the bills he voted AYE or NAY on.

 

[doelcm82]

For example:
http://blog.elcomsoft.com/2016/09/ios-10-security-weakness-discovered-backup-passwords-much-easier-to-break/

Apple has admitted that was a mistake and promised to fix it soon.

There is irony there, but it doesn't refute anything Cook said.

 

[Cineplex]

Tim talks about Apples commitment to user security.......while looking outside his window at the PRISM gathering device mounted to the telephone pole...that he allowed to be installed.

Also, thanks for storing iMessage meta data, Tim. That is pro user security.

You suck, Tim.

 

[nt5672]

". . . . best products . . . ."

I'm just not seeing it outside of the phone. Hey, Tim remember us computer users. We would like best products also, not just good enough to keep school children happy.

 

[zioxide]

REALLY ... then how about eliminating the iMessage Ping logs after one day.

Data like that is pretty important for software developers when trying to diagnose and fix bugs. Deleting after 30 days is a pretty reasonable standard.


Of course that doesn't prevent people who have no clue about that process from bitching and moaning based on the headlines.

 

[mdelvecchio]

For example:
http://blog.elcomsoft.com/2016/09/ios-10-security-weakness-discovered-backup-passwords-much-easier-to-break/

all the hater nitpicking in the world won't change the fact that ios is more encrypted and safer than android.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Apple has admitted that was a mistake and promised to fix it soon.

Such a "mistake" does not happen at random. And it is not the only one:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/02/24/former-apple-security-engineer-to-apple-fix-your-sh-t/

...Paget, a well-regarded researcher who left her position on Apple’s security team for a job at Tesla just earlier this month, wrote perhaps the most scathing critique yet of the company’s security response to its “gotofail” bug, which would allow a wide array of Apple programs’ SSL-encrypted communications to be hijacked, eavesdropped or corrupted....

 

[mdelvecchio]

Very tasty. People love to be spoonfed manure that tastes like chicken.

Cook can stop cooking the truth whenever he wants. He will step on customers, he will even throw Clinton under the bus if it helped his company's snowflaky stock. Apple's history of privacy (and taxes) shows Apple does things only for Apple's benefits, while trying to sell to customers and government what they wants to hear. But blame them for everything and/or try to bamboozle a "solution" when something goes wrong as opposed to taking actual responsibility (which, once again, hurts their stock - the only thing they ever give a crap about.)

oh my word what nonsense. apple is one of the few companies that doesn't manage to its stock price. they stood up for their customers to the FBI. and they're also the biggest taxpayer in the US. what you're confused about is overseas earnings which don't need to be paid to the IRS is paid to an overseas state, as they're doing. the US and EU are just butthurt about it since they aren't getting a piece.

really, to suggest cook manages to he stock price just shows how completely ignorant you are about apple. it's comic.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

all the hater nitpicking in the world won't change the fact that ios is more encrypted and safer than android.

I do not know what your feelings (hate) have to do with the obvious weaknesses in Apple devices and software.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Such a "mistake" does not happen at random. And it is not the only one:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/02/24/former-apple-security-engineer-to-apple-fix-your-sh-t/

i'm going to bet that you don't write software. because yes, mistakes in complex software projects happen. all the time, every day.

the hater mindset is so nuts. how you believe that the same company that very publicly stood up to the fbi over encryption is now conspiring to make your local itunes backups weaker is anyone's guest. it's a form of paranoia.
[doublepost=1475332211][/doublepost]

I do not know what your feelings (hate) have to do with the obvious weaknesses in Apple devices and software.

what obvious weaknesses? iOS is more secure than android. it's encrypted by default while android is not. that speaks for itself.

 

[Cineplex]

Data like that is pretty important for software developers when trying to diagnose and fix bugs. Deleting after 30 days is a pretty reasonable standard.


Of course that doesn't prevent people who have no clue about that process from bitching and moaning based on the headlines.

Not for a company that has positioned itself as being the most secure and private platform. "We care about your privacy"....so we keep your logs on file for 30 days and hand it over when asked. Very pro-user right there.

 

[KALLT]

Apple should provide more tools to the user to inspect details of the encryption. For instance, being able to see and verify the public key of an iMessage contact. A keychain app or section in Settings to inspect own keys would also help. I hope to see OpenPGP integration in Mail some day, perhaps in the form of an extension point or something similar to their VPN APIs.

 

[miknos]

Apple cloud services would be great if they were zero-knowledge. I think MEGA and Spider Oak has it. You upload your files and the server doesn't have access.

Apple is the only big company I have hope to do it (in the future). Google, Facebook, et al are doing the contrary.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Of course that doesn't prevent people who have no clue about that process from bitching and moaning based on the headlines.

Yeah, OK, sure ... 2 Billion iMessage Pings per day for 30 days ... rolling - sure you got enough data there?

unbelievable the naiveté in the Cult of Apple to believe they need ALL that data for a simply message app ... yeah?

 

[macs4nw]

Hm. So, Orrin Hatch wants to understand & takes the initiative to find out. Not, any of the other senators or congressmen who've taken a position on this. Orrin Hatch. Born in 1934.

If congress or the greater gov are both hoping to to have a say in imposing their will over this rapidly changing technological age and remain relevant at all, then Silicon Valley needs to host an annual clinic for congress to give them some idea of what they're opining (& voting) on.

Nice to see someone taking an effort... kind of shocking that out of all of them, it's Orrin Hatch.

It takes no small measure of humility to admit a lack of knowledge about rapidly evolving high tech issues as they relate to newly drafted legislation that purport to address unprecedented moral, ethical, as well as security concerns that seem to arise at an ever increasing rate proportionate to the advancement of technology.

Hats off to Orrin Hatch. The 'Feinsteins' of Congress should take notice.

 

[Robert.Walter]

REALLY ... then how about eliminating the iMessage Ping logs after one day.

Better yet, make them explicit opt-in.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

i'm going to bet that you don't write software...

Personal attacks aren't very helpful in this discussion.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Th

It takes no small measure of humility to admit a lack of knowledge about rapidly evolving high tech issues as they relate to newly drafted legislation that purport to address unprecedented moral, ethical, as well as security concerns that seem to arise at an ever increasing rate proportionate to the advancement of technology.

Hats off to Orrin Hatch. The 'Feinsteins' of Congress should take notice.

The Feinsteins of congress should be in a federal pen for crimes against the constitution in the name of expensive and intrusive keystone kop security theater.
[doublepost=1475345032][/doublepost]

Such a "mistake" does not happen at random. And it is not the only one:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/02/24/former-apple-security-engineer-to-apple-fix-your-sh-t/

Is that the same Tesla that last month had cars hacked and critical subsystems pwned from 12mi away? (Well after similar hacks on Jeep put the car industry on notice). Wonder what she's been up to the last couple years?

(Note Im not saying her critiques of Apple were wrong, but she should know that security is hard.)

 

[coolfactor]

". . . . best products . . . ."

I'm just not seeing it outside of the phone. Hey, Tim remember us computer users. We would like best products also, not just good enough to keep school children happy.

If I recall, Macs continue to be considered some of the best computers on the market, but we must not generalize too much. So, I ask you ... what are you hoping that Apple's "fixes" to make them "the best"? Be specific, because that's important.

Sporting a 2013 MacBook Air that I'd choose over a 2016 PC from any other company.