[This is a very interesting white paper][1] on the security built into iMessage. The outcome of which, [as summarized by Ars Technica][2], is that Apple theoretically *could* engineer iMessage in a way that it captures messages.
[Not surprisingly Apple has responded to AllThingsD][3]:
> “iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller in a statement to **AllThingsD**. “The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so.”
Once again, this all comes down to trust of the company. Do you trust Apple to evade pressures from, say, the NSA for Apple to thwart this? For as big as Apple is, I trust them to do just that — flip off the NSA. Why? There’s lots of reasons I have, none of them particularly good, or worth sharing.
I do want to point out, that Apple’s argument sounds a lot like [Ladar Levison of Lavabits][4] argument. The “yeah, we *could* do that, but it ain’t gonna happen” argument.
[1]: http://blog.quarkslab.com/imessage-privacy.html
[2]: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/contrary-to-public-claims-apple-can-read-your-imessages/
[3]: http://allthingsd.com/20131018/apple-no-we-cant-read-your-imessages/
[4]: https://rally.org/lavabit