[idunnoman]

I mean this genuinely. Didn't we learn with Snowden why this argument isn't valid?

The government does break these laws to get what they want AND they silence the people that they force to break the laws.

Why are we pretending that anything has changed?

[snowwrestler]

If our starting belief is “the government will secretly force Apple to do things no matter what the law says,” then why do we care what Apple says or announces, at all?

Why get mad at Apple if we have already conceded that they are powerless before the government in general?

[idunnoman]

This is a good point.

I do believe we should be skeptical of these companies stated positions unless we can see a profit motive. The previous stance that Apple said they had was "we value your privacy and you should pay us for that".

They also demonstrated in the case in 2016 with terrorists and the FBI that they meant it.

In this case, they have flipped entirely, and are now adding features without being compelled that subvert that stated goal.

Apple will scan your phone/data without a warrant AND report to the government now. This is their public opinion now. Forget their compelled and forced actions. Now they are proud to be the bad guys.

[shuckles]

So what’s the profit motive?

[idunnoman]

I don't see it. Clearly our motivations are misaligned. I'm not confident you can sell me on the idea that this will get people to trust them more, and therefore buy more apple stuff.