14 DAY TRIAL // Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt won’t let jabs made toward the company fly, especially when they come from Tim Cook, the Apple CEO.
“We have always been the leader in security and encryption. Our systems are far more secure and encrypted than anyone else, including Apple. They’re catching up, which is great,” Schmidt added his own jab during an interview with CNN Money.
The statement comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook said that when online services like Google are offered for free, the user is actually the product, not the customer. He said at the time that at Apple, they believe in great customer experience that doesn’t come at the expense of people’s privacy.
Schmidt, as expected, reacted to Cook’s words and said that the company has been working very hard to protect users’ information from other companies, the government or hackers. He also noted that it’s possible for users to change their settings and share less information with Google.
“Someone didn’t brief him correctly on Google’s policies. It’s unfortunate for him,” Schmidt burned the Apple CEO.
Encryption plans annoy law enforcement
Google has recently unveiled plans to allow Gmail users to encrypt their emails, while Android phones will also be encrypted by default when the next operating system version is released later this year. Similar plans have been exposed by Apple, and this has attracted the criticism of several important names.
James Comey, FBI director, said that such encryption powers encourages people to feel as if they are above the law, while outgoing US Attorney General Eric Holder played the “think about the children” card by saying that such measures would only make it more difficult for law enforcement to get its hands on data, even when a warrant has been issued.
Yesterday, Troels Oerting, chief of the European Cybercrime Centre and the Europol Assistant Director, said that people don’t know the difference between privacy and anonymity. He stated that in an effort to get the former, the latter makes life easier for criminals.
While he didn’t directly name Google and Apple in his speech, he made it clear that his opinion echoed those of Comey and Holder.
Eric Schmidt wanted to make sure he lands a final blow to Apple’s Tim Cook by pointing out that, in the past year, there have been no significant data breaches of Google. On the other hand, celebrity accounts were hacked and nude photos posted online just weeks ago, mostly due to the lacking security settings Apple set on its service.