Gates also told the Financial Times that, as the newspaper put it, there are “benefits to the government being able to enforce taxation, stop crime and investigate terror threats, but said there must be rules on when the information can be accessed”.
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An iPhone is seen in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.
The Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has waded into the row between Apple and the FBI, arguing that the government agency is right to demand co-operation from Silicon Valley when it comes to terrorism investigations. “A lot of the families of the victims, we’re kind of angry and confused as to why Apple is refusing to do this”. 47 percent of people aged between 18 and 29 think Apple should unlock the iPhone – 43 percent disagree.
Those cases include one announced last week in which a federal magistrate judge ordered Apple to unlock the iPhone belonging to one of the killers in the San Bernardino shooting, which has escalated into a high-publicity showdown between Apple and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. “The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers – including tens of millions of American citizens – from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals”, Cook wrote in an open letter. “That’s to give it more broad, sweeping authority to help the Department of Justice hack into devices, to have a backdoor into devices, and the law simply does not provide that authority”.
The county-issued iPhone 5C was used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people at an office holiday party in December before they died in a gun battle with police. 51 percent of people aged between 50 and 64 think Apple should unlock the iPhone – 27 percent disagree. “It doesn’t require Apple to redesign a product or to create some sort of new backdoor”, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news briefing on Monday.
According to Apple’s letter, the technology company has objected to providing law enforcement assistance with regards to at least 12 of the 15 iPhones so far. In an FAQ published on Apple’s website on Monday, the company specifically addressed the argument raised by Gates, Comey and others who believe Apple should accommodate the FBI’s demands.
The Justice Department has pushed back on framing the dispute as an encryption issue, insisting that it is only trying to get past the lock screen on one phone.
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More recently, Mark Zuckerberg also expressed support for Apple, telling the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona that “we’re sympathetic with Apple”.
