If they say they don't, and they do, then that's fraud, and they could be held liable for any damages that result. And, if word got out that they were defrauding customers, that would result in serious reputational damage to Apple (who uses their security practices as an industry differentiator) and possibly a significant customer shift away from them. They don't want that.

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direwolf20 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The government would never prosecute a company for fraud where that fraud consists of cooperating with the government after promising to a suspected criminal that they wouldn't.

	▲	otterley 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's not the scenario I was thinking of. There are other possibilities here, like providing a decryption key (even if by accident) to a criminal who's stolen a business's laptop, or if a business had made contractual promises to their customers, based on Apple's promises to them. The actions would be private (civil) ones, not criminal fraud prosecution. Besides, Apple's lawyers aren't stupid enough to forget to carve out a law-enforcement demand exception.

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tokyobreakfast 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Absent the source code, it's incredibly difficult to disprove when the only proof you have is good vibes.

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otterley 2 hours ago | parent [-]

There are many things you can't prove or disprove in this world. That's where trust and reputation comes in - to fill the uncertainty gap.

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fsflover 31 minutes ago | parent [-]

You mean, trust and reputation of Apple? They're not exactly high:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252114

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45520407

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014588

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26644216

	▲	otterley 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		At the end of the day, it's all about how you weigh the evidence. If those examples are sufficient to tip the scales for you, that's your choice. However, Apple's overall trustworthiness--particular when it comes to protecting people's sensitive data--remains high for in the market. Even the examples you posted aren't especially pertinent to that (except for iCloud Keychain, where the complaint isn't whether Apple is securely storing it, but the fact that it got transmitted to them in the first place, and there exists some unresolved ambiguity about whether it is appropriately deleted on demand).