Philip Houska Apple's open letter, signed by CEO Tim Cook, regarding the FBI's request to unlock one iPhone and the subsequent resounding rejection of such an act by the Californian giant resonates not only in the technological world. Apple has sided with its customers and stated that if the FBI provided a "backdoor" to its products, it could end in disaster. Now we are waiting to see how other actors will react to the situation.
The attitude of other technology companies, which have a direct influence on the protection of users' private data, will be key. For example, Jan Koum, the head of the WhatsApp communication service, Internet security activist Edward Snowden, and Google head Sundar Pichai have already stood up for Apple. The more people Apple gets on its side, the stronger its position will be in negotiations with the FBI, and thus the US government.
Any rivalry that Apple and Google have between themselves in different markets is being put aside for the moment. Protecting user privacy should be an important element for most companies, so Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed his utmost support to Tim Cook. He called his letter "important" and added that the push by the judge to create such a tool to help the FBI with its investigation and especially to "sneak" an otherwise password-protected iPhone could be considered a "disturbing precedent."
1/5 Important post by @tim_cookForcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users' privacy
- Sundar Pichai @sundarpichai February 17, 2016
"We build secure products that keep your information safe and provide lawful access to data based on valid legal orders, but asking companies to wrongfully access a user's device is a completely different matter," Pichai said in his posts on Twitter. So Pichai sides with Cook and agrees that forcing companies to allow unauthorized intrusions can violate user privacy.
"I look forward to a meaningful and open discussion on this important topic," Pichai added. After all, Cook himself wanted to provoke a discussion with his letter, because according to him, this is a fundamental topic. The executive director of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, also agreed with Tim Cook's statement. In his post on Facebook referring to that important letter, he wrote that this dangerous precedent must be avoided. "Our free values are at stake," he added.
The popular communication application WhatsApp has become famous, among other things, for its strong security based on TextSecure protocols, which it has been using since 2014. However, this implementation means that the central office can turn off encryption at any time, practically without prior notice. So users would potentially not even know that their messages are no longer protected.
Such a fact could make the company as vulnerable to legal pressure as the FBI is currently using against Apple. It is therefore not surprising that WhatsApp has already faced similar court orders as the Cupertino giant is currently facing.
Last but not least, Internet security activist and former employee of the American National Security Agency (NSA) Edward Snowden joined the side of the iPhone manufacturer, who in his series of tweets told the public that this "fight" between the government and Silicon Valley could threaten the ability to defend their rights by users. He calls the situation "the most important technological case of the last decade".
The @FBI is creating a world where citizens rely on him # Apple to defend their rights, rather than the other way around. https://t.co/vdjB6CuB7k
- Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 17, 2016
Snowden, for example, also criticized Google's approach for not standing on the side of users, but according to Sundar Pichai's latest tweets mentioned above, it looks like the situation is changing even for this company, which works with a huge amount of data.
But Cook's opponents also appear, such as the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, who disagrees with Apple's approach, saying such a decision could do more harm than good. The paper's editor, Christopher Mims, said that Apple was not forced to create a "backdoor" that anyone could exploit, so it should comply with government orders. But according to Apple, the FBI requires just such an act, although it may describe it differently.
According to some information, hackers already last year created a tool that could unlock any iPhone in less than five days, but the condition for the functionality of this device is an active iOS 8 operating system, which the iPhone 5C, which the FBI wants to unlock from Apple, does not have. In iOS 9, Apple significantly increased security, and with the arrival of Touch ID and a special security element, Secure Enclave, breaking the security is practically impossible. In the case of the iPhone 5C, however, according to some developers, it is still possible to bypass the protection due to the lack of Touch ID.
The whole situation he commented also blogger and developer Marco Arment, who says the line between "just one" and "permanent" breach is dangerously thin. “It's just an excuse so they can gain permanent access to hack any device and secretly observe user data. They are trying to exploit the December tragedy and subsequently use it for their own purposes."
I would add one more thing. If Apple were to enable the backdoor, it would only serve to spy and obtain additional information about ordinary people. After all, a real terrorist will not use an iPhone, but another phone or another arrangement, but governments and attackers will already have an easy way to a billion devices and will happily trade data.
Finally, some "big" player has stood up for users' rights to privacy, those rights that after 9/11 have been severely damaged and every year the "loop" narrows. It only scares me how many people are able to throw away these rights and put pressure on Apple and don't understand its positions, especially journalists who, as soon as you don't give them or forbid publishing some data, even if it's secret, scream that you have the right to information and the right feel free to inform…