As the U.S. government keeps pressuring Apple to decrypt an iPhone, Huawei said it sides with the iPhone maker in its pro-encryption battle.
The encryption debacle is escalating as authorities want to compel Apple to help the FBI hack into the iPhone of a San Bernardino suspected shooter. As the issue gains new proportions, Huawei's CEO told the media at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 that his company agrees with Apple in this case.
Apple publicly opposed the government's requests and CEO Tim Cook even wrote an open letter, saying that the implications of such an action would be threatening. Following that open letter, the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion asking a federal court to force Apple to help the FBI.
Apple remains firm on its position, opposing government backdoors time and time again, arguing that granting access to its devices and OS would also welcome hackers and cybercriminals and would pose privacy and security risks.
A number of technology companies side with Apple in this matter, and Huawei is one of them.
"Tim Cook spoke up for that (privacy) ... for us it is really very important," Huawei's consumer business group CEO Richard Yu told the media at the MWC, as cited by Reuters. "I think it's good letting the government understand why we cannot do some things. There are some things we can do, but there are some things we cannot do."
Yu's comments referred to Apple's stance regarding encryption and the government's requests, but the CEO did not explicitly mention whether Huawei will take the same approach.
When asked directly whether Huawei would defend its stance in the same way should similar circumstances arise, Yu noted that his company would "insist on the important things for consumers."
The executive further highlighted that Huawei greatly values privacy protection and it made significant efforts toward this endeavor.
"We put a lot of investment into privacy, and security protection is key, it is very important for the consumer," Yu explained.
OEMs should be committed to respecting their customers' privacy, offering secure devices that would keep one's data safe. Yu pointed out that vendors can't do what the government requires, at least not if they respect privacy protection.
