Free Software Foundation statement on new iPhone models from Apple

*This statement can be viewed online at
<https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-stateme...>*

**The Free Software Foundation encourages users to avoid all Apple
  products, in the interest of their own freedom and the freedom of
  those around them.**

Today, Apple announced two new iPhone models: the 5s, which comes with
a fingerprint scanner, and the 5c, which will be available at a lower
price point. In response, FSF executive director John Sullivan made
the following statement:

> Mobile phones are the most widely-used and deeply intimate
> personal-computing devices. With all of the emails, text messages,
> photos, and videos mediated by these devices, it is essential that
> the software they run be fully under the control of their users.
> Instead, Apple has given us new hardware with the same old
> restrictions, allowing only Apple-approved software, putting users
> -- along with their data, their privacy, and their freedom of
> expression -- at the mercy of programs whose operations are secret
> and demonstrably untrustworthy. We can't imagine a more hostile
> reaction to the wave of privacy concerns sweeping the world right
> now than debuting a proprietary, network-accessible fingerprint
> scanner as your new 'feature'.

> Because so many people carry computers in their pocket which can
> track and transmit where they have been, who they have communicated
> with, what they are interested in, and what sights and sounds are
> around them at any given moment, any liveable future absolutely
> depends on free 'as in freedom' software. Free software empowers
> users to replace any software hostile to their interests. The first
> step is rejecting Apple's restrictions.

We urge users to investigate ways to support the use of mobile devices
which do not restrict users' essential freedoms. Such projects include
[Replicant][1], a free software fork of Android, and [F-Droid][2], an
app repository of exclusively free software for Android. People should
also [let Tim Cook at Apple know how they feel][3].

[1]: http://replicant.us/
[2]: https://f-droid.org/
[3]: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/apple
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