In Reddit AMA, Bill Gates Spouts Another Nothingburger on Apple-FBI Fight

When we last heard from Bill Gates it was in an interview with the Financial Times. He talked about encryption, Apple and the federal government, but it wasn’t really clear what he thought.

Today, in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, Gates attempted to answer a similar question (“What’s your take on the recent FBI/Apple situation?”) but didn’t really clarify anything. Here’s what he said:

I think there needs to be a discussion about when the government should be able to gather information. What if we had never had wiretapping? Also the government needs to talk openly about safeguards. Right now a lot of people don’t think the government has the right checks to make sure information is only used in criminal situations. So this case will be viewed as the start of a discussion. I think very few people take the extreme view that the government should be blind to financial and communication data but very few people think giving the government carte blanche without safeguards makes sense. A lot of countries like the UK and France are also going through this debate. For tech companies there needs to be some consistency including how governments work with each other. The sooner we modernize the laws the better.

Okay! It would appear that Gates thinks there should be a discussion, that people disagree with one another and that this discussion is happening in other countries as well. While that may be his “take” on the situation, it doesn’t really tell us anything other than that Gates desperately wants to avoid pissing anybody off.

Previously, Gates said that the Financial Times write-up of his interview mischaracterized his remarks as outright support for the government in its case against Apple. His clarification didn’t really clarify things, and neither does his reply in today’s AMA.

Though Gates hasn’t jumped in bed with Apple, virtually all of the major companies in Silicon Valley — including Microsoft — have filed court documents that back Cupertino.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via