Is Apple putting profits over patriotism?

[Commentary] With Apple holding a potential key to uniquely valuable information with global security implications — and refusing to relinquish it to government — it is time to evaluate where we are in the privacy continuum. In this matter, it is not the state's action that is troubling. When consumers blithely consent to let companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple and others collect their personally identifiable information as a condition of continued use, a social contract is formed and the veneer of privacy fades. There is scant evidence that most Americans know the true cost or character of the private information they relinquish in an ostensibly fair exchange of data for service. If Americans have been suspicious of government's collection of personal information, why should they be any less suspicious of the same by private companies? Put another way, if we can request government files through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), should we have the same right for files compiled by Google, Facebook and others with infinitely more and better data?

The answers to these questions are as complex as the technologies we use on a daily basis, but no less critical to our way of life. When one company refuses to acknowledge rules, let alone play by them, there is an imbalance in the ecosystem, and society suffers. While the underlying issues involved in Apple's refusal to cooperate with government are intellectually ripe, it is time for that company to put the nation's interests above its own. It is time for Apple to put patriotism over profit, act responsibly and cooperate with our government.

[Hoffman is chairman of Business in the Public Interest and an adjunct professor in Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University]