What would you think if the federal
government goon squad demanded of every lock manufacturer in the nation a key
to open every single lock it makes so that there is no way that the company
could assure its customers that the goons would not have the means to secretly unlock
their front doors at any time for access to their private property?
Suppose the FBI goons cajoled a
federal judge into ordering safe manufacturers, bank deposit box manufacturers
and software encryption makers to fork over the means of defeating the purpose
of every device or software they make whenever they like in order to discover
the secrets within they are looking for?
What if you were the owner of a new technology
which allowed your customers to keep a tight secret of all their private
thoughts, papers and effects? How would you like it if a government goon ordered
you to turn it over and give it up to big brother who doesn’t like the idea of
anyone keeping secrets from it?
If the United States government wants
access to your secret it thinks it has the perfect right to demand access to it
by any means possible, and it has no qualms about demanding the cooperation of
others to help it satisfy its desires.
So now the goons are trying to take a
bite out of Apple Computer. The FBI convinced a federal judge last Tuesday to order Apple
to assist the government break into the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of
the deceased San Bernardino terrorists.
“Apple has the exclusive technical means which
would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to
provide that assistance voluntarily,”
prosecutors whined. US government
officials are concerned that the expanded use of strong encryption is hindering
national security and criminal investigations. Apple has it. We want it. Therefore
Apple must give it up argue the goons.
Apple CEO Tim Cook says: Screw you,
goon squad; we’re not going to lie down and roll over like government lap dogs when
you threaten the security of our customers. “We oppose this order, which has
implications far beyond the legal case at hand.” He knows that his
customers want their private secrets protected from hackers – including government
hackers. He is deeply committed to those customers.
But now the government is demanding that
Apple build a “backdoor” to the iPhone. It “wants us to make a new version
of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security
features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In
the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the
potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
“While we believe the FBI’s
intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build
a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would
undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect,” Cook concludes.
Lots of American technology companies
like Google and others are wisely agreeing with Cook. I say thank goodness
there are patriotic American CEO’s who are willing to risk their businesses by
standing up to the government goons.
I hope the FBI can eventually crack
the terrorist’s phone and get access to the encrypted data within. But not at
the expense of Apple and its loyal customers who have a right to count on the
company to safeguard their precious secrets. If the government can’t crack it; that’s just tough
luck.
The goons don’t have the right to bite Apple.
No comments:
Post a Comment