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Comment by chaz72 | Hacker News Reader

I disagree that what Cook is doing is counterproductive. I think Google could take a stronger line to secure user data if they wanted to. They don't have to become a consumer product company to run a messaging system which they cannot read. If Google can't sign on to that, maybe they should change something so that they can.

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iMessage is better than Google's chat offerings in this regard, but not that much better.

If you want secure messaging, you need to be using OTR or Signal. Apple isn't really helping you here.

I'd just like to add: NOT Telegram.

Because some people need it explicitly stated.

I don't claim that Apple is as good as OTR or Signal, only that Google could do more, Google should do more, and Google should be out there helping Tim Cook make a case that back doors are a terrible idea.

edit: Microsoft, Apple, Google, they all need to step up their game and make their case in public. Apple's not perfect but they're slightly ahead of the other two major OS vendors here.

But everyone can do more, including Apple. Meanwhile, I think if you build a scoreboard for this, it's not at all clear that Apple is ahead of Google.

Google's not making a public case. And Google, as far as I know, can read messages you send on Google services. Those are both Big Deals. I don't disagree (I don't have the expertise to!) with what you said on Apple and browser security. There are many parts.

Everybody can step up their game, I absolutely agree there.

Ugh, scoreboards. Historically, they've only caused confusion and muddied the waters. :(

Erm, Google's business model is to perform MITM for economic advantage. The popularity of this business model is what rekindled this "debate".

Their use of TLS is like an amateur's use of XOR - a secure primitive in a very narrow context that ignores the big picture. Google is the type of backdoor the skinjobs are grooming us to accept.

I think it's only a matter of time until Apple Inc lands on "Game Over", but Google is playing an entirely different game.

I think the claim is just that it makes perfect sense for Google to not want to take that stronger line, and perfect sense for Apple to want to do so because of the differences in their businesses.

Google can't show relevant ads for content they cannot read. Nor can they index it.

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