[jmull]

Not at all. It would be quite damaging to their reputation if it came out later that they were affected by this, knew it, and lied about it. Especially since the privacy of customer data is a key part of their marketing message these days.

[hbosch]

Damaging how? People will stop buying iPhones? Be realistic.

Assuming the story is true, you lie lie lie until something bigger in the news happens then you quietly relent.

[itake]

Personally I buy Apple because they are more private than android. I would look at alternatives if Apple was caught lying here.

[mandevil]

Well, what was Apple's response to the PRISM revelations?

Apple: "We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."

PRISM: "Collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple" A later slide claims that Apple joined the program in October 2012.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-... for those documents.

So, was Apple lying about PRISM? The Snowden documents certainly seem to support that position[1]. If they lied about PRISM, why would you trust them now?

[1]: Obviously there are possibilities like Snowden documents were wrong, or deliberate hoaxes, etc. Spy games are fun!

[crunchlibrarian]

What percentage of stories like this do you think never come out publicly? 50%? 90%?