‘They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case’.
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Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, destroyed their personal phones before carrying out the December 2 shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 and wounded 22. “A lot of the families of the victims, we’re kind of angry and confused as to why Apple is refusing to do this”.
Apple says complying with the order would establish the possibility of a “backdoor” that could be used by third parties to access an unlimited number of devices in the future.
Apple will also argue that the Obama administration’s request to help it hack into an iPhone in a terrorism case is improper under an 18th century law, the 1789 All Writs Act, which has been used to compel companies to provide assistance to law enforcement in investigations.
The day after Cook’s open letter, one of the notable absences of tech CEOs weighing in was current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who as of today has yet to address the issue directly. Since Apple challenged the court ruling on the phone last week, most technology industry leaders have either lined up behind Apple or stayed silent.
Authorities believe the couple was inspired by the Islamic State. Larson said the government has a strong case because of Farook’s diminished privacy interests as a “dead, murderous terrorist” and because the phone was owned by his employer, the county government.
Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym last week ordered Apple to assist investigators by creating specialized software that would let the Federal Bureau of Investigation rapidly test random passcode combinations to try to unlock the iPhone and view data stored on it. Of those questioned, 38% said Apple should resist the call and 11% had no opinion.
“Should governments be able to access information at all or should they be blind, that’s essentially what we are talking about”, he told the BBC.
In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, which will air on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET, Gates said that Apple is taking a principled stance, but it will ultimately comply with the law of the land.
“This makes me a little bit angry with Apple”, Clayborn said.
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“We are not the only ones who are asking for encryption keys”, he said.
