Despite positive memories of the Mac’s 30th anniversary, questions still loom over Apple’s relationship with the National Security Agency following allegations that the Cupertino, Calif. company worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in its products to access communications.
Apple CEO Tim Cook once again addressed those allegations in a rare sit-down interview with ABC News.
See also: NSA Bugs Can Spy on 100,000 Computers, Even When They're Offline
“Much of what has been said isn't true,” Cook said. “There is no back door. The government doesn't have access to our servers. They would have to cart us out in a box for that, and that just will not happen. We feel that strongly about it.”
Sitting next to Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice-president of software engineering, and Bud Tribble, Apple's vice-president of software technology (and one of the original members of the Mac team), Cook also reaffirmed the company’s stance on U.S. government requests for user data.

“From my point of view, number one, we need to be significantly more transparent,” he said. “We need to say what data is being given, how many people it affects, how many accounts are affected. We need to be clear. And we have a gag order on us right now, so we can't say those things.”

One of Apple's first and most public statements on the matter came last year in a message entitled "Apple’s Commitment to Customer Privacy," in which the company claimed it was not directly involved in an NSA surveillance program called PRISM.
Apple later published a transparency report, listing the number of requests it receives for user data from the world’s government agencies.
Cook's full interview, which will also delve into the Mac's 30th anniversary, is scheduled to air Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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