Tim Cook Won’t Budge on the FBI’s Demands, Says It Would Be ‘Bad for America’

Tim Cook Won't Budge on the FBI's Demands, Says It Would Be 'Bad for America'

In his first major interview since taking a stand against the FBI, Tim Cook will be on ABC News this evening, making the case for encryption and the importance of protecting Apple users’ privacy.

Cook was interviewed by ABC’s David Muir in what looks like his office at Apple’s HQ. In the short clip posted online today, Cook reiterates Apple’s firm stance against creating a “master key” to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter:

This is not something we would create. This would be bad for America. It would also set a precedent that I believe many people in America would be offended by.

Muir then asks if Cook is worried that he might somehow be able to stop a future terrorist attack by unlocking the phone. Cook replies:

David, some things are hard and some things are right. And some things are both. This is one of those things.

Interestingly enough, this is all very similar to what Cook said in 2014 in an interview with Charlie Rose, long before any of this had happened:

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. We would never do that. They would have to cart us out in a box before we would do that.

The segment is on ABC News tonight at 6:30 ET.

[ABC News]

Top image: ABC News


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Tim Cook Won’t Budge on the FBI’s Demands, Says It Would Be ‘Bad for America’