Amid Security Questions, Apple Takes a Public Privacy Stand

In the wake of the highly publicized iCloud celebrity hack, Apple (AAPL) must believe it’s still got some making up to do to regain lost trust in its security.

First, chief executive Tim Cook makes a point in a Charlie Rose interview to reiterate Apple’s position that it’s not reading users’ emails nor is its business based on collecting customer information. And now, Apple’s opened a new website dedicated to detailing its privacy policies and providing helpful information to users, kicking it off with an open letter from Cook on the vendor’s security position.

The new website instructs users how best to protect themselves from cyber crooks by using new technologies such as TouchID and deploying two-step verification, tells users of break-in warning signs and informs them that iOS 8 protects their data such as pictures, messages, emails and other items.

Apple intends to provide privacy updates on the site at least once a year and whenever there are significant changes to its policies.

“We believe in telling you up front exactly what’s going to happen to your personal information and asking for your permission before you share it with us,” Cook wrote. “We’re publishing this website to explain how we handle your personal information, what we do and don’t collect, and why,” he said.

In again referring to charges that Apple was complicit in the NSA’s reported attempts to open a security back door into the vendor’s iPhones or that it had any knowledge of break-in activities, Cook again stated, as he did with Rose: “I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”

And, as with any good boss, Cook takes a shot at the competition. “We don’t ‘monetize’ the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud,” he wrote. “And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you.”

Here’s the full text of Cook’s opening letter on the website:

A message from Tim Cook about Apple’s commitment to your privacy.

At Apple, your trust means everything to us. That’s why we respect your privacy and protect it with strong encryption, plus strict policies that govern how all data is handled.

Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all our hardware, software, and services, including iCloud and new services like Apple Pay. And we continue to make improvements. Two-step verification, which we encourage all our customers to use, in addition to protecting your Apple ID account information, now also protects all of the data you store and keep up to date with iCloud.

We believe in telling you up front exactly what’s going to happen to your personal information and asking for your permission before you share it with us. And if you change your mind later, we make it easy to stop sharing with us. Every Apple product is designed around those principles. When we do ask to use your data, it’s to provide you with a better user experience.

We’re publishing this website to explain how we handle your personal information, what we do and don’t collect, and why. We’re going to make sure you get updates here about privacy at Apple at least once a year and whenever there are significant changes to our policies.

A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

One very small part of our business does serve advertisers, and that’s iAd. We built an advertising network because some app developers depend on that business model, and we want to support them as well as a free iTunes Radio service. iAd sticks to the same privacy policy that applies to every other Apple product. It doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.

Finally, I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.

Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn’t come easy. That’s why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.

Tim