Three months ago on December 2, 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik perpetrated the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. The attack— which occurred in San Bernardino, California—resulted in the deaths of fourteen people and serious injury of twenty-two more. Farook, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, and his wife, a Pakistani-born permanent resident, carried out the shooting armed with pistols and semi-automatic rifles on a banquet room filled with eighty employees of the Department of Public Health. Four hours following the attack the perpetrators were killed in a shootout with the police. In the following days the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that the perpetrators were homegrown terrorists not involved in any foreign terrorist cell or network.
This is a horrible tragedy and condolences must be expressed for the victims. However, what has followed out of this situation is a conflict which is of extreme importance to privacy, technology, and security. On February 9, 2016, the FBI pleaded to Apple Inc. to help decrypt an iPhone 5C owned by one of the shooters. Help was needed due to the fact that after ten incorrect passcode entries the current iOS will erase any encrypted data. Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple, proceeded to publicly decline this request. Why would Apple resist helping gather information on a known terrorist?
Firstly, and quite immediately, the reason can be seen by the request in and of itself. The FBI applied to a federal court and filed an order requiring Apple to the create what is essentially an iOS backdoor. This order was not a subpoena, instead it was an issue under the All Writs Act of 1789. Let me repeat that: 1789.
However, the more important issue arises from the technical nature of the backdoor. In Tim Cook’s words “The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices.” It is clear that once given this technology, the FBI could easily and readily abuse this power at the expense of everybody’s privacy.
Recently, Google and other major technology groups have backed Apple with their stand against the creation of a backdoor. One particularly adamant supporter of Apple is John McAfee, creator of McAfee Security. He has offered to the FBI to decrypt the iPhone without a backdoor—free of charge. In his address, he succinctly described the seriousness of this issue: “if the government succeeds in getting this back door, it will eventually get a back door into all encryption, and our world, as we know it, is over.”
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