Caveat being how Apple looks at privacy isn't necessary how Facebook or Google views privacy because Apple is a store while Google and Facebook are clubs. It's

Caveat being how Apple looks at privacy isn't necessary how Facebook or Google views privacy because Apple is a store while Google and Facebook are clubs. It's in a store's best interest to keep their customer records private. A club's best interest is to broadcast how much fun it is to join them. That's not to say a club doesn't and wouldn't want to keep their member records private as well. In fact, clubs work hard to do so, just ask how Meerkat is doing, or any other third parties looking to build on top of a platform they don't own. Additionally a club like Google or Facebook doesn't sell sell your information. They do the same song and dance as all mass communication companies in the past do, they merely sell hints of it. To compare a store's motive with a club's motive is interesting, it's almost like comparing apples and oranges. It might also speak to why the core DNA of Apple isn't in creating web services, why Google's core DNA isn't in creating physical products, and why I much prefer speaking to Google Now on my iPhone. They both see the world differently. -- The real interesting question is this. Apple's service agreement states they store and encrypt iMessages. There have been 300 billion messages thus far. Apple has a centralized system for managing those messages while others use a decentralized peer-to-peer system. So a positive is that the government can't hack into it. The negative being that if the government justifies in asking for it instead Apple has no recourse but to give it up. When push comes to shove, will Apple, the largest company in the world, step up to the plate and spend money to fight the United States in court? Otherwise this is just a sales pitch that Don Draper pulled when he told a fictional cigarette company to start claiming their tobacco is sun-dried so that every other cigarette company looks weaker in comparison.