Kind of, but not really. The main difference is in the image they maintain, rather than their actual practices. Both businesses collect and maintain proprietary datasets about their customers, Google is just a little more widespread and opens its data up a little more to 3rd parties (not including governments, which they both obey).
They fought against setting a precedent where the government can compel them to create new features at no cost to the government. They still share data with governments under court orders - and the government pays them (and Google) for the teams and resources they use to facilitate these requests.
The lawsuit was also moot anyway, as the FBI were able to buy a zero day exploit to unlock the phone themselves.
The NSO’s Pegasus toolkit had exploits for both Android and iOS. For Android, they used WhatsApp - a 3rd party app under Facebook’s control. For iOS, they got in via iMessages - an app Apple are responsible for. Apple being “good for privacy” is like Apple’s old claim “you don’t get viruses on a Mac”. They’re all about their image.
There is something to that though, at least in comparison with Google.
Kind of, but not really. The main difference is in the image they maintain, rather than their actual practices. Both businesses collect and maintain proprietary datasets about their customers, Google is just a little more widespread and opens its data up a little more to 3rd parties (not including governments, which they both obey).
Apple famously fought the FBI in court, refusing to unlock a user’s phone, and they won.
They fought against setting a precedent where the government can compel them to create new features at no cost to the government. They still share data with governments under court orders - and the government pays them (and Google) for the teams and resources they use to facilitate these requests.
The lawsuit was also moot anyway, as the FBI were able to buy a zero day exploit to unlock the phone themselves.
The NSO’s Pegasus toolkit had exploits for both Android and iOS. For Android, they used WhatsApp - a 3rd party app under Facebook’s control. For iOS, they got in via iMessages - an app Apple are responsible for. Apple being “good for privacy” is like Apple’s old claim “you don’t get viruses on a Mac”. They’re all about their image.