Don’t force Apple to work for the FBI. The ramifications are just too damaging. If it was just one specific phone, then maybe it would not be a giant issue. But the problem is that the FBI wants access to all phones. That’s a no no.
Consider this:
if a law enforcement investigation required access to a home, through the proper channels they could get the landlord to grant them access. Understandable. But what if the same law enforcement group said, “You know what, just give us keys to all of the homes and we’ll just let ourselves in.” That is not a good situation for me, you, or anyone else to be in! And I have nothing to hide!
Forcing Apple to violate it’s consumers’ privacy is giving the FBI a skeleton key to ANY APPLE PRODUCT they want, whenever they want, whatever the reason — justly or unjustly. And it won’t stop there. You know it won’t.
Whenever a precedent is set, it can be abused many times before it’s overturned. The problem with having a ruling on the books is that foreseeing all of the potential harm it could cause could have been absent in determining the judgement. Because remember, this is not a physical skeleton key. This is software. This is tech. And it’s always under attack. So if Apple is FORCED to make their products LESS SECURE, then it is less secure to EVERYONE, regardless of their intentions. And for people with the know-how, or governments with the resources, a less secure target may be just what they need to execute whatever plans they had in the first place. There are already lots of nude celeb photos floating around the internet because hackers don’t stop hacking until they get what they want. And a less secure iPhone is hacker gold! Laugh if you want, but once they’re in, they won’t just stop at nude selfies…
Do not force Apple to loosen it’s security. Even I don’t have the foresight to see all of the hazards waiting down the road. But I do have the foresight to see that a decision that is not in favor of Apple and not in favor of maintaining strong security – and our privacy – is a bad one.
