Apple is challenging a Union court order to help access an iPhone used by one of the shooter in the San Bernardino terrorist attack , claiming that doing so would make a “ dangerous case in point . ”
Now , other tech companies and politicians are publicly debating whether Apple ’s dead - countersink auspices of user privacy is justified and whether the FBI has a right wing to come in hoi polloi ’s iPhones via a “ backdoor ” to ensure national security . Shortly after Apple CEO Tim Cook posted an open letter detail Cupertino ’s refusal , tech leaders , presidential candidates , and other public figure began taking sides .
Here are some of the key ( if not kooky ) testimonies in the courtroom of public opinion .
On Thursday , the social medium giant issued a assertion acknowledging the “ indispensable work ” confidence do to keep us good , but Facebook also pledge to “ contend aggressively ” against government activity campaign to curtail the security of technical school products .
“ We doom terrorism and have full solidarity with victims of panic . Those who seek to kudos , promote , or plan terrorist acts have no property on our service . We also appreciate the unmanageable and essential work of law enforcement to keep people safe , ” the statement reads , asposted on USA Today .
“ When we receive lawful requests from these authorities we comply . However , we will continue to fight sharply against requirements for companies to step down the security measures of their scheme . These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct company ’ efforts to guarantee their products . ”
Steve Wozniak
The Apple cofounderspoke to CNBCon Thursday about Apple ’s recent concealment fight against the FBI .
“ I ’m not closely involved in the fight , but I ’m definitely against [ the Margaret Court order ] , ” Woz say . “ I do n’t think that the phone should have backdoors . I believe that Apple ’s brand recognition and time value and profits is mostly based on an item called trust . ”
Woz was after demand on what side Steve Jobs would have been and ended up talking about Jobs ’s onetime close coming upon with the FBI .
“ [ Jobs ] was a vegan . He cared about people … Once we have unreal tidings doing the searching , can we trust it ? I recollect [ Jobs ] would have gone for the privacy . One time we talked to the FBI . They come into Apple and give notice us how to watch over for all these Chinese spy that were run short to essay to get our IP , and [ Jobs ] asked the FBI , ‘ We do the same thing , right ? ’ And the FBI guy say , ‘ No , we do n’t . ’ ”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Pichai take to Twitter to praise Cook for speaking out against the FBI ’s demands . “ Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users ’ seclusion , ” Pichai wrote .
1/5 authoritative post by@tim_cook . force companies to enable hacking could compromise user ’ privacy
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
Dorsey took to Twitter to share Cook ’s letter of the alphabet and express his support for Apple .
We stand with@tim_cookand Apple ( and thank him for his leadership)!https://t.co / XrnGC9seZ4
Donald Trump
“ I match 100 percent with the courts . In that case , we should give it up , ” Trump told “ Fox & Friends , ” asreported by Politico .
“ I think security measure , overall , we have to open it up and we have to use our capitulum . We have to expend common sense . Somebody the other day called me a common - sense conservativist . We have to use unwashed sense . ”
Edward Snowden
Snowden brand on Twitter that Apple ’s fight against the FBI is “ the most important technical school case in a decennium . ” And that it was rather ironic for people to have to trust on a private party like Apple to fight their rights . Snowden is currently living in exile in Russia to avert facing pursuance in the U.S. for leaking government documents .
The@FBIis creating a human beings where citizens rely on#Appleto defend their right wing , rather than the other way around.https://t.co/vdjB6CuB7k
John McAfee
The antivirus software developer write an op - male erecticle dysfunction inBusiness Insideroffering the FBI his aid hacking the iPhone in question — because asking Apple to do it would be the equivalent weight of write our atomic codes , apparently .
“ With all due deference to Tim Cook and Apple , I cultivate with a team of the best hackers on the planet , ” McAfee wrote . “ I would corrode my skid live on internal television if we could not break the encoding on the San Bernardino iPhone . This is a virtuous and bare fact . ”
McAfee then offer up to chop into the iPhone — for free!—and claimed that it would take his team exactly three week .
“ If you accept my offer , then you will not need to ask Apple to localize a back door in its product , which will be the beginning of the end of America , ” he added .
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum
Koum shared Cook ’s open letter on Facebook , saying he “ could n’t agree more ” with Apple ’s posture on secrecy and its efforts to protect user data .
“ We must not countenance this life-threatening precedent to be set,”Koum wrote . “ Today our freedom and our liberty is at stake . ”
Back in December , WhatsApp wasbanned from Brazil for a dayafter the Facebook - owned messaging service turn away to comply with court of justice orders regarding a criminal case .
Mark Cuban
The entrepreneur publish his take onBusiness Insidercommending Apple for doing the “ exact correct thing . ”
“ While the FBI is attempting to be very clear that this is a one - off request , there is no chance that it is , ” Cuban wrote . “ This will not be the last terrible event whose possible resolution could be on a smartphone . There will be many government agencies that many fourth dimension in the hereafter will luff to Apple ’s compliance as a precedent . Once this happens , we all roll down that slippery side of lost privacy together . ”
“ If you suppose it ’s bad that we ca n’t snap the encryption of terrorist , it is far worse when those who would terrorize us can expend advanced tools to supervise our unencrypted conversations to plan their enactment of scourge . ”
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Sen. Cottonissued a statement criticizing Applefor choosing to “ protect a beat ISIS terrorist ’s privacy over the security of the American people . ”
The Senator believes that produce a back door is not just about preventing terrorism , but that they could also be used by government agency to fight other crimes . Talk about a slippery slope …
consort to Sen. Cotton , the fact that Apple is fighting the court order excuse why it ’s cursorily becoming the “ company of selection for terrorist , drug dealers , and intimate predators of all sorts . ”
Marco Rubio
The Republican presidential candidate believes that Apple should “ voluntarily comply ” to the court order because being a “ good embodied citizen is authoritative , ” however he hold that this is a complicated issue .
“ If we guide a police that require Apple and these companies to make a back door , one , criminals could cypher that out and use it against you,”Rubio said on CNN . “ And turn two , there ’s already inscribe software that already exists , not only now but in the future created in other land . We would not be able to stop that , so there would still be encryption capability — they just would n’t be American encoding potentiality . ”
“ We ’re croak to have to figure out a way forward play with Silicon Valley and the technical school industry on this . There has to be a way to deal with with this issue that continues to protect the privacy of Americans but creates some process by which law - enforcement intelligence operation agencies could access write in code information . I do n’t have a magic solution for it today — it ’s a complicated new government issue . ”
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Feinstein from California die onPBS NewsHourand argued that Apple should “ create the information ” to the FBI based on a “ likely cause stock-purchase warrant . ” Sen. Feinstein also reason that the iPhone in question was owned by the San Bernardino County , which has given its license . If Apple denies the request , Sen. Feinstein , the vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee , said she would draft a billhook to change the laws and force Apple into abidance .
“ We are in endangerment if you could not , through right evidence submitted by a likely lawsuit stock warrant , be able-bodied to open up these systems , ” Sen. Feinstein state .
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA)
Los Angeles County Congressman Lieuissued a statementarguing that the government can not compel Apple , or any other private sector company , to become an branch of law enforcement .
“ This court order also beg the doubtfulness : Where does this sort of coercion stop ? ” Congressman Lieu wrote . “ Can the governing military unit Facebook to create package that provide analytical data on who is likely to be a outlaw ? Can the government force Google to bring home the bacon the name calling of all people who explore for the terminal figure ISIL ? Can the regime ram Amazon to write software that identifies who might be suspicious based on the books they ordered ? ”
Congressman Lieu is only one of four data processor scientific discipline majors in Congress , and he help draft theENCRYPT Act of 2016 , in reception to states introducing nib to ban the sales agreement of encrypted smartphones .
