Microsoft founder Bill Gates has spoken out in an interview with Bloomberg about recent reports that he claims misrepresent his stance on the ongoing legal battle between the FBI and Apple, saying that it doesn't accurately "state [his] view on this."
The disputed report was published by The Financial Times on Monday and quotes him as saying that technology companies should be forced to cooperate with law enforcement in terrorism investigations, while arguing that the government's order for Apple to create a "back door" into the San Bernardino, Calif., shooter's phone wouldn't set a wider precedent.
"This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case," Gates said, according to The Financial Times.
"It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let's say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said, 'Don't make me cut this ribbon because you'll make me cut it many times.'"
The report took Gates' statement to mean that he supported the FBI and modeled the headline as such, which in turn spawned similar stories from other news outlets. However, during the Bloomberg interview, Gates established that he is taking a moderate approach to the debate, saying that Congress and the courts must help strike an appropriate balance between security and privacy, according to CNN.
"I do believe there are sets of safeguards where the government shouldn't have to be completely blind," Gates said during the Bloomberg interview. "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."
When asked specifically what his stance was on in this case, he further reinforced his moderate stance, saying, "the courts are going to decide this [case]" and "these issues will be decided in Congress."
Though Gates has clearly taken a moderate stance in the debate, that doesn't mean Microsoft will. Though he still resides on Microsoft's board of directors, he is no longer involved in running the company day to day - instead, that honor has fallen upon Satya Nadella, Microsoft's current CEO.
