Posted September 13, 2018 03:16:17As the new year begins, President Donald Trump is pushing for the United States to end its use of the Apple TV to monitor domestic spying, as part of his new National Security Strategy.
The White House is seeking a change to an outdated program that allows the NSA to tap into the TV’s microphone, audio system, and internet connection to obtain metadata about conversations and online activity.
“Apple” systems allow the government to listen in on the phone conversations of Americans without a warrant.
Apple, which has long argued the system is necessary to keep tabs on terrorist communications, has pushed back on the proposal, saying it “could undermine the security of the nation by allowing our adversaries to listen to private conversations.”
“If they can get at any data they want, it’s going to be all over the Internet and on their phones,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in December.
“So the best way to protect Americans is to get rid of it completely,” Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg in December, adding that he would “love to see” Apple make the change.
But Apple is opposed to the change, arguing the government can’t easily tap into their hardware to listen without a court order.
Apple argues the government should not have access to their devices and is fighting the government’s motion to compel.
In an email to The Wall St Journal, a company spokesperson said the company “remains committed to the principle that the privacy and security of our customers is of paramount importance.”
“We are also disappointed that the government is attempting to compel Apple to abandon this technology,” the spokesperson said.
“The government is right to ask for Apple to stop this surveillance.
But we are confident in the system Apple has built, and in the trust customers place in us.”
Apple has argued that it would be impractical for the government and the courts to tap directly into the microphone of a living person.
But that argument was rejected by the court that ruled in Apple’s favor.
The ruling was also the first time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NSA had a warrant to wiretap a person’s phone.
The NSA’s case against Apple was one of the most significant cases to come out of the Snowden revelations that showed how the U,S.
spied on hundreds of millions of Americans.
Apple has also faced a number of legal battles over the years.
In 2016, a federal judge found the NSA was collecting data from iPhones and iPads in a bulk way and ordered Apple to turn over the data.
But in 2017, a U.C.L.A. law professor said that the case had become a case of “bargaining” rather than a lawsuit, in which Apple was trying to win back data that it had been stripped of.
Apple said in a statement that it “is confident that the law and the government are on the same page regarding the necessity of the ‘Apple’ program, and we look forward to working with them to restore its importance to the national security.”
The government has responded by saying it wants the new legislation that would replace the “Apple” program to end the requirement for a court approval.