You may have heard that there’s a new 4-inch iPhone about to hit the streets—but Apple CEO Tim Cook used his company’s much-anticipated launch event to address another hot item: his company's beef with the government.
On the same day that the FBI dropped its encryption case against Apple, Cook took to the stage to talk about law enforcement’s efforts to extract information from the iPhone of one of the accused shooters of last year's San Bernardino attack.
It’s a subject on "everyone's" mind, he said.
"We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy," Cook said. "I have been humbled and deeply grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Americans across the country from all walks of life," he said, adding the company never expected to be "at odds with our own government."
He added, “We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government. But we believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers and we owe it to our country.”
Meanwhile, the Feds have dropped their case against Apple, after someone showed officials a possible method for unlocking the iPhone. More testing is required, and the government is to file a status report by April 5.
The news also broke the same day that researchers said they demonstrated how to get around iPhone encryption in order to decrypt photos and videos sent as secure instant messages.
Apple will clearly have to beef up encryption in its next iPhone iteration if it plans to keep user confidences private.
“This is an issue that impacts all of us and we will not shrink from this responsibility," Cook said.
Photo © 10 FACE/Shutterstock.com