The right to privacy is an aspect not just the government, but everyone should respect. As a society, we already somewhat fear the fact that through technology we do not get the privacy we deserve. Recently, an encrypted cellphone was found and given to the FBI in order to search through it. The cellphone belonged to one of the criminals, Syed Farook, of the December San Bernardino terrorist shooting. 14 people were killed and 22 were injured in this tragic incident.
Due to the fact that the FBI was not able to unlock the cellphone because of technical difficulties, Apple Corp. was asked, by a federal judge, to create a type of ‘backdoor’ to recover the data from the shooter’s iPhone. If FBI fails the attempts to unlock the cellphone a certain amount of times, all the data can get deleted from the iPhone. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, published an open letter which explained the company’s opposition towards what they were asked to do. In the open letter, Cook stated “The U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.”
If Apple were to agree to the ruling, they can risk the chance of hackers getting a hold of the backdoor that would be created. With this information, hackers can get into millions of users’ personal information. Also, Apple says it is a ‘dangerous precedent’ because it gives access to the government to get into anyone’s device in the future. Quoting Cook’s words from the open letter, the creation of this backdoor ‘would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks – from restaurants and banks to stores and homes.’
The US government says that this software would only be used for San Bernardino’s shooting case; But Apple argues that this is not true what so ever. Once the software to get into the device is created, it can be used multiple amount of times on infinite different devices. In this case the solution is more of an issue than the problem itself. In fact, Apple has used this kind of security on all devices for many years in order to keep the users’ personal data safe. They even have everyone’s data out of their own reach saying it is none of their business to have access to it.
According to CNN, Apple has been given an extension for Friday, Feb. 26 to give a response to the court order whether they will be opposing or agreeing to the ruling.
