Edward Snowden described it on Twitter as “the most important tech case in a decade.”
Following the tragic events of the San Bernardino terror attack, the FBI recovered one of the shooters’ iPhone. The FBI has requested court-ordered access to the data on gunman Syed Farook’s phone.
After Apple CEO Tim Cook’s fervent message written to Apple customers Wednesday, it is evident that the iPhone’s password was not Farook’s birthday.
“While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect,” Cook wrote.
On the exterior, it seems as if the FBI’s request to access the data on this particular phone is plausible. It’s the phone of a terrorist, and everyone wants justice.
The problem lies in how to achieve the aforementioned access. Essentially, Apple was given two options in the court order.
The first is to create an entirely new system that would provide a backdoor to unlock any and all iPhones. The second is to remove security features that would allow a high-speed computer to input an unlimited amount of combinations until the phone is unlocked.
While both proposals are an immediate breach of privacy, the first request should not even be considered. Cook described the creation of new encryption-weakening software as the equivalent to the FBI possessing a “master key.”
This “backdoor” approach is incredibly dangerous and something we, as customers and citizens, should not willingly accept.
Many fail to consider Apple products are everywhere. Although Apple is an American company, their products are outsourced to manufacturers in China, Mongolia, Korea and Taiwan.
If the ability to bypass or disable certain security features is accessed in the United States, what’s to stop other nations from creating similar methods of “brute force?”
Both proposals have extremely risky outcomes. That being said, I think Apple’s open letter to their customers was a completely logical and strategic response to the government court order.
By responding publicly, we can assume the chance of future terrorists being apple users will drastically decline.
It’s extremely important to achieve justice on behalf of the 14 lives lost in San Bernardino, but the future safety of Apple users is at stake as well. Apple has already complied with the FBI by providing all data in their possession and a number of engineers to assist in investigative research.
I leave you with a quote from none other than Donald Trump on “Fox and Friends.” “I think security over all — we have to open it up, and we have to use our heads. We have to use common sense.”
If “common sense” is infringing upon the rights of millions of Americans, then we need to reevaluate the future of our own personal security in the eyes of our ever-changing political system.
jlkarl@indiana.edu
@jkarl26
