Apple intentionally created a platform where they hold almost absolute control over devices.<p>They can install new software, inject code into auto-updated applications, MITM SSL by hooking local device APIs, MITM iMessage by using their CA to sign new certificates. Their control over end-user devices is astonishingly complete.<p>They can do all of this without no external validation (except when jailbreaks are found), as the platform itself prevents 3rd parties from decrypting Apple&#x27;s OS updates, viewing the operation of the device, introspecting Apple&#x27;s code, or introspecting the encrypted application code shipped on the device.<p>They&#x27;ve intentionally done this, and justified this massive set of backdoors under the ridiculous assumption that they can defend device owners against all possible compromises of Apple&#x27;s trust position, both from within (such as changing business management) and without (governments, espionage, and compromise), not just now, but many decades to come, all without any checks or balances.<p>How is this not the very definition of backdoor?