1.16 Apply the FAIR Test to a Customer Letter (LO1.4)

Using the FAIR test, evaluate Tim Cook’s open letter to customers

(published as “A Message to Our Customers” on February 16, 2016, on the Apple website: www.apple.com/customer-letter/). Address each aspect of the FAIR test:

(a) facts (how factual was the communication?);

(b) access (how accessible or transparent were the motives, reasoning, and information?);

(c) impacts (how did the communication impact stakeholders?);

(d) respect (how respectful was the communication?).

See Figure 1.4 for more information about the FAIR test.

Consider using other sources to help you evaluate Cook’s letter.

You can find a variety of online information. Some online articles you might consider include the following:

● Examples of various views of Apple’s position: “Apple v.

Washington over Encryption” in The New York Times, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/opinion/apple-vswashington-over-encryption.html?_r=0

● The view of an editorial board: “Why Apple Is Right to Challenge an Order to Help the F.B.I.” by The New York Times Editorial Board, The New York Times, available at www.nytimes.

com/2016/02/19/opinion/why-apple-is-right-to-challenge-an-orderto-help-the-fbi.html

● The international complications of the issue: “While It Defies U.S. Government, Apple Abides by China’s Orders—and Reaps Big Rewards” by David Pierson in the Los Angeles Times,