Apple has defended its policy of using strong iPhone encryption such that not even the company can gain access to the personal data stored on devices.
The company struck to its privacy guns despite the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman issuing a threat against Apple and other tech giants…
ArsTechnica reports on the Encryption and Lawful Access: Evaluating Benefits and Risks to Public Safety and Privacy hearing.
Graham didn’t appear to understand the contradictory stance he was taking, saying on the one hand that he appreciated that “people cannot hack into my phone” while at the same time asking Apple to create a vulnerability that would inevitably be discovered by others and used to do just that.
Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance – a longstanding opponent of iPhone encryption – also gave evidence.
Apple said that it worked extensively with law enforcement.
Although he didn’t go into specifics, this likely refers to Apple granting access to iCloud backups. While Apple has no ability to access the data stored on iPhones, it does hold the keys to encrypted iCloud backups, so is able to decrypt these.
Pressed on removing strong encryption from iPhones, Neuenschwander said there was no safe way to do this.
Graham, however, persisted in his threat.
Apple will be discussing the issue during a roundtable event at CES, the first time the company has appeared there since 1992.
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