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Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed the company has been co-operating with the UK government in handing over metadata in the wake of a series of terror attacks in the country \u2014 which he described as \u201chorrendous\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cook was speaking in an interview with Bloomberg<\/a> following the first day of Apple\u2019s WWDC developer event yesterday.<\/p>\n Responding to a question about Apple\u2019s stance over privacy and security in the face of ongoing terror attacks around the world, he said:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve been co-operating with the UK government \u2014 not only in law enforcement matters but in some of the attacks and I can\u2019t speak in detail about that, but in cases where we have information and they\u2019ve gone through the lawful process we not just give it but we do it very, very promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n On Saturday a group of terrorists attacked people in London Bridge, using a van and knives. It\u2019s the third attack in the UK since March, when a lone attacker struck in Westminster, also using knives and a car to mow down pedestrians. While, last month, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb vest in Manchester as people were leaving a pop concert \u2014 killing more than twenty people.<\/p>\n Little detail has emerged as yet about the kinds of communication technology the terrorists might have used to help plan and carry out their attacks, although early reports have suggested some of the perpetrators may have viewed extremist content via YouTube.<\/p>\n \u201cI would hope that they [the UK authorities] would say we\u2019ve been co-operating well,\u201d said Cook, of the terror investigation, adding that he thought Apple had provided \u201csome valuable information\u201d.<\/p>\n Encryption doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no information. Because likely metadata exists and metadata, if you\u2019re putting together a profile, is very important.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEncryption doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no information,\u201d he added. \u201cBecause likely metadata exists and metadata, if you\u2019re putting together a profile, is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n In February 2016<\/a> Apple was drawn into a public spat in the US with the FBI over access to a locked iPhone that had been used in another terrorist incident after the agency tried to use the courts to force Apple to make changes to the device\u2019s security system in order to make its passcode crackable.<\/p>\n Apple refused to do so, couching this as a request for a backdoor, and in the end the FBI managed to break into the device by purchasing an exploit from a third party company.<\/p>\n So the key portions of Cook\u2019s response on how it\u2019s co-operating with UK counterterrorism efforts are: A) \u201cin cases where we have information\u201d; and B) \u201cthey\u2019ve gone through the lawful process\u201d.<\/p>\n Whereas, in the earlier instance with the FBI, Apple had argued the agency was requesting extraordinary assistance by demanding it deliberately weaken iOS security \u2014 and that such a step posed a threat to the security of all iOS users.<\/p>\n That said, there\u2019s some grey area here too being as the UK legislated at the back end of last year for a new investigatory powers framework that has been widely interpreted as an attack on encryption<\/a>, by giving authorities the legal authority to demand the removal of electronic protection and be given data in a readable form.<\/p>\n Indeed, in the wake of the latest attack in London the UK Home Secretary said on Sunday that the government wants tech firms to work with it to limit their use of end-to-end encryption.<\/a><\/p>\n And while there may be pressure in the US from some quarters for a decrypt law<\/a>, no such law exists currently.<\/p>\n Asked by Bloomberg whether Apple is continually working to make encryption \u201ceven stronger\u201d, Cook made his response into a warning about the wider societal threats posed by cyber attacks to \u201cyour safety, your security\u201d.\u00a0Apple, for example, uses e2e encryption for its iMessage messaging app on iOS.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not privacy vs security, it\u2019s privacy and security vs security,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so we\u2019re always working to try to stay one step ahead of these hackers that, frankly speaking, have gone from the guy in the basement that\u2019s a kind of hobbyist to a sophisticated enterprise \u2014 and it takes all that we can do to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t think our users should have to think through all this stuff. It\u2019s not practical for people. And so we try to stand up for users and stay one step ahead of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Another area the UK government has been applying pressure to in the wake of the terror attacks is the spread of extremist content via online platforms. And social media firms have repeatedly found themselves\u00a0in the firing line<\/a> for not doing enough to promptly remove terrorist propaganda from their platforms.<\/p>\n On this Cook noted that Apple already does \u201ccurate\u201d the App Store \u2014 adding: \u201cWe don\u2019t want hate speech on there. We don\u2019t want these kind of recruiting things on there. We\u2019ve tried to be very careful from the beginning about not having that stuff on there.\u201d<\/p>\n Featured Image: BERND THISSEN\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed the company has been co-operating with the UK government in handing over metadata in the wake of a series of terror attacks in the country — which he described as “horrendous”. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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