Justice Dept. Bizarrely Condemns Apple's
Privacy Stance as a "Marketing Strategy"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001155.html
In the continuing battle between the FBI and Apple over access to the
secured data of an iPhone, the Justice Department has today taken the
bizarre tack of claiming that Apple is only trying to attract customers
and doesn't really care about privacy at all.
Background info on this battle is at:
"What the FBI Really Wants from Apple -- and Why Apple Has Said No":
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001154.html
This twisted government logic has also surfaced from a number of pro-DOJ
sources over the last 24 hours or so, and it's so Kafkaesque in nature
that it almost takes your breath away.
Because what kind of idiot would want to entrust their personal data and
communications to a firm that didn't care about their privacy and
security?
Of course it's a good marketing plan to put your users' privacy first
and foremost.
That's why Apple, Google, and various other firms put such enormous
resources into developing and supporting these privacy and security
systems, with some of the most brilliant teams on the planet. They
aren't just great policy folks and engineers, they personally really
care about these issues themselves. They have loved ones too!
It would not only be terrible marketing, but also ethically unacceptable
not to put users' privacy first.
So yes, good marketing and good privacy and good security all go hand in
hand -- win-win-win.
Or to put it another way, the DOJ is blowing smoke.
And they know it. They also know why this case is different from
previous situations where Apple has helped them access iPhone data in
the past -- revealing as a lie another DOJ argument, their claim that
this is just about a single phone.
In fact, what the FBI is demanding in this case is something entirely
different. Now they want Apple to create essentially a new phone
cracking tool that has never existed before, specifically for the FBI to
use.
That's what the government is really after right now. It's not really
about this one phone at all -- it's about creating the legal precedent
going forward that will allow the government to demand that tech firms
create new methods specifically to try subvert the very security
ecosystems that have been created to protect users in the first place!
The level of DOJ disingenuousness in play is simply staggering.
I almost feel sorry for the officials who have to trot out these
self-humiliating arguments, that are so obviously facades.
No matter how this specific case turns out, we're on the cusp of data
privacy being crushed like a bug -- at the hands of GOP and Democratic
politicians alike.
Oh, and by the way Donald Trump, who today called for a boycott of Apple
until they knuckle under to the FBI ... you're not just a dangerous
racist, you're a fascist enemy of freedom. But Donald, do feel free to
let me know if you disagree.
And that's the truth.
Be seeing you.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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