Apple talks tough about the FBI, says 'being hard doesn't scare us'
Apple has repeatedly tried to make its case for going against the FBI's demands to the public and to the courts.
On Friday, Apple's top executives finally got the chance to make that case directly to its shareholders.
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Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, re-iterated the company's firm commitment to protect the privacy of its customers during its annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino, California on Friday, according to posts on social media from those in attendance.
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As it turns out, Apple had a surprisingly receptive audience. One investor in attendance said he thought Apple was "100% correct" in its decision not to assist the FBI.
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The regularly scheduled meeting, an occasion to re-appoint board members and allow shareholders to voice feedback on business matters, comes in the middle of a very public and polarizing political battle for the technology company.
Apple has refused a court order that would force it to build a custom tool to assist the FBI in cracking an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the gunmen behind last year's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Cook has argued in interviews and memos to employees and customers that the case would set a "dangerous" precedent that could jeopardize the privacy and security millions of customers expect from their devices, at a time when these gadgets store more and more sensitive personal information.
"This case is not about one phone. This case is about the future," Cook said in one interview with ABC that aired Wednesday night.
So far Apple's campaign has done little to hurt its stock, which had already plummeted earlier this year on concerns about iPhone sales growth and broader market turbulence.
The general public, however, remains firmly divided on the privacy issue, according to recent polls from the Pew Research Center and Reuters.
"The challenge is that this is a hugely polarizing issue," Allen Adamson, a branding consultant, told Mashable in an earlier interview. "No matter which side Apple stands on, it's going to upset large chunks of the population."
Apple and Tim Cook are certainly not strangers to taking principled stands in front of shareholders.
At the same shareholder meeting two years ago, Cook shot down one group in attendance that urged Apple not to invest in environmental initiatives, which don't add to the company's bottom line.
"We do things because they are right and just and that is who we are," Cook said at the time. "That’s who we are as a company."
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Topics Apple
Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
