World News for Students of English

03-03-2016 07:00

In an interview on ABC News with David Muir, Apple boss Tim Cook has hit back the FBI over the handling of the court order to help unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino killers Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik.

“The case is not about my phone. This case is about the future. What is at stake here is: Can the government compel Apple to write software that we believe would make hundreds of millions of customers vulnerable around the world, including the US.”

The Apple chief defended the company’s refusal to comply with the FBI’s order to remove security blocks on the attackers’ device, comparing the change on software to a disease. 

“The only way know would be to write a piece of software that we view as a sort of a software equivalent of cancer. We think it is a bad news to write. We would never write it, we have never written it. And that’s what is the stake here.

If we knew a way to get the information on the phone, that we haven’t already given, if we knew a way to do this, that would not expose hundreds of millions for other people’s issues, we would obviously do it.”

Conflicting polls suggest the American public’s divided, but Cook is remaining firm on his position.

“We need to stand tall, and stand tall on principle.”

Difficult words: handle (to manage a situation), at stake (in question, what the problem is), compel (to force), vulnerable (in danger), comply (if you comply, you do what somebody wants you to do), expose (to uncover), issue (a problem), poll (survey), principle (a moral idea).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com