Speaking at the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) Champions of Freedom Awards Dinner on Monday night, Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated his company’s stance on customer privacy and security.

Cook, who was honored for ‘corporate leadership’ by EPIC, spoke remotely to the audience in Washington and opened his speech by saying customers should not have to pick between privacy and security. (via TechCrunch)

Users have a fundamental right to privacy

“We can, and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demand it, the constitution demands it, [and] morality demands it.”

Cook continued by comparing how Apple does business to how other “prominent” Silicon Valley technology companies treat customer data to make money off advertising.

“I’m speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information,” said Cook. “They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that’s wrong. And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.”

Cook went on to add that Apple does not want user data and does not expect users to trade their data for a ‘free’ service that, in the end, comes at a very high cost – the loss of privacy.

“We believe the customer should be in control of their own information. You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for god knows what advertising purpose,” said Cook.

Apple will continue to offer user’s encryption tools

Cook called government efforts to force Apple into adding back door access to bypass device encryption “incredibly dangerous.”

“We’ve been offering encryption tools in our products for years, and we’re going to stay on that path. We think it’s a critical feature for our customers who want to keep their data secure. For years we’ve offered encryption services like iMessage and FaceTime because we believe the contents of your text messages and your video chats is none of our business,” added Cook.

Cook likened allowing back door access to government agencies to leaving a key to your home under the doormat. “If you put a key under the mat for the cops, a burglar can find it too,” he said.

Photo credit: Mike Deerkoski, Flickr, CC BY 2.0