After Tim Cook’s eloquent letter explaining why Apple wouldn’t help the FBI get encrypted data from the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, the internet looked to Google to take a similar stand. Now Google CEO Sundar Pichai has posted five tweets that seem to show he agrees with Cook.
Edward Snowden chimed in among the many voices online today that urged Google to speak up:
Today would be the perfect day for Sundar Pichai (Google, CEO) to back up Tim Cook (Apple, CEO).
— Jeremiah Grossman (@jeremiahg) February 17, 2016
This is the most important tech case in a decade. Silence means @google picked a side, but it’s not the public’s. https://t.co/mi5irJcr25
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 17, 2016
The call is for more than just good vibes between similar corporations. Cook has always claimed that Apple doesn’t want its users’ data. As he told Charlie Rose in 2014: “We’re not reading your email. We’re not reading your iMessage. If the government laid a subpoena on us to get your iMessage, we can’t provide it. It’s encrypted and we don’t have the key.”
But it’s actually a bigger deal for Google to come forward and speak out about this. Android is open-source, for one, but Google is also based on a business model of collecting data from its users.
Here’s what Pichai posted:
1/5 Important post by @tim_cook. Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users’ privacy
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
2/5 We know that law enforcement and intelligence agencies face significant challenges in protecting the public against crime and terrorism
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
3/5 We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
4/5 But that’s wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices & data. Could be a troubling precedent
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
5/5 Looking forward to a thoughtful and open discussion on this important issue
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
While that’s not quite as forceful as Cook’s statement, I think we can assume they’re in this together.
AP Photo/Altaf Qadri