Bill Gates “Disappointed” by Reports He Supports FBI over Apple

Yesterday, Bill Gates weighed in on the current feud between Apple and the FBI over the decryption of an iPhone belonging to a mass shooting suspect, during which he reportedly came out in support of the FBI, asserting that Apple should comply with the order to unlock the phone, something the company has so far refused to do. However, in a fresh interview with Bloomberg <GO>, Gates revealed that he was “disappointed” to see his statements taken out of context.

“I was disappointed ’cause that doesn’t state my view on this,” Gates told Bloomberg.

While Gates believes that his view was skewed by the media to appear more binary than it really is, the Microsoft founder did add that it doesn’t mean he supports Apple’s stance.

“It is no different than […] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information […] should anybody be able to get at bank records,” he said. “There’s no difference between information.”

“I do believe there are sets of safeguards where the government shouldn’t have to be completely blind,” Gates added. “But striking that balance — clearly the government has taken information historically and used it in ways we didn’t expect, going all the way back to say the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover.”

Image courtesy of BGR.