Tim Cook: The Government Has Gone Overboard Collecting Personal Data

Screenshot / Hulu Tim Cook sat down with Charlie Rose last week.Apple CEO Tim Cook said down with PBS' Charlie Rose last week, and he had some choice words for the government surveillance operations revealed by Edward Snowden.

"I don't think that the country, or the government's found the right balance," he said. " I think they erred too much on the collect everything side."

Cook said he thinks the Obama administration is committed to rolling back some of those surveillance programs but added "it's probably not right to not do anything."

"I think it's a careful line to walk," he said.

Cook went on to say that Apple doesn't receives relatively few requests from the government for user data. He's only legally allowed to give a range, which was between zero and 250 last year. He implied the number was so low because Apple keeps user data like iMessages encrypted and can't access it.