Tim Cook on encryption, privacy


Matthew Panzarino for Tech Crunch

Cook then switched gears to talk about encryption -- directly addressing the efforts by policy makers to force Apple to offer a 'master key' that would allow government agencies access to consumer devices.

"There's another attack on our civil liberties that we see heating up every day -- it's the battle over encryption. Some in Washington are hoping to undermine the ability of ordinary citizens to encrypt their data," said Cook.

"We think this is incredibly dangerous. We've been offering encryption tools in our products for years, and we're going to stay on that path. We think it's a critical feature for our customers who want to keep their data secure. For years we've offered encryption services like iMessage and FaceTime because we believe the contents of your text messages and your video chats is none of our business."

It's encouraging seeing Apple keep pushing for securing its customer's data. I'm a little disappointed though that I think that message was overshadowed by obvious attacks at competitors. Basically his speech sounded like a sales pitch leveraging a hot button political topic. That's not to say Apple's position on customer privacy isn't important, it just feels like the message is compromised when there's an obvious
angle.