The White House said it is not the aim of the government to compromise the security of Apple’s iPhone, as it only wants the company to help in the case of one phone that was used by a terrorist in the San Bernardino, California attack on December 2.
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“They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone”, wrote Tim Cook in his letter on Tuesday.
Technology experts and privacy advocates counter that forcing U.S. companies to weaken their encryption would make private data vulnerable to hackers, undermine the security of the Internet and give a competitive advantage to companies in other countries. Google’s CEO said he’s “looking forward to a thoughtful and open discussion on this important issue”. “Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices”.
“We still have one of those killers’ phones we have not been able to open – and it’s been over two months now, we’re still working on it”, said FBI Director James Comey.
The FBI said it needs access to data on one of the shooters’ phones because it could contain valuable information related to the terrorism case. Apple CEO Tim Cook immediately objected, setting the stage for a high-stakes legal fight between Silicon Valley and the federal government.
The FBI requires Apple’s help to circumvent the auto-erase function in iOS, which wipes devices after an incorrect passcode is entered ten times, and for Apple to remove the delay that occurs between failed passcode attempts.
In 2014, Apple and Google – whose operating systems are used in 96 per cent of smartphones worldwide – announced that they had re-engineered their software with “full-disk” encryption, and could no longer unlock their own products as a result.
“The implications of the government’s demands are chilling”, he added.
The company was ordered to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to investigators seeking to unlock the data on an iPhone 5C that had been owned by Syed Rizwan Farook.
“We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone unturned as we gather as much information and evidence as possible”, said Eileen M. Decker, the United States attorney for the Central District of California, in a statement.
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Federal judge Sheri Pym has ordered Apple to comply with a workaround which would not actually mean that encryption would have to be turned off.
