“We knew this was going to happen. In 2014 Apple announced that its newest system – the iOS 8 – would not permit the company to access data in an iPhone. ‘Unlike our competitors,’ reads Apple’s policy, ‘Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access [private] data,'” Melissa Caen writes for ReadWrite. “Yesterday, we heard the crash when a federal judge ordered Apple to do just that.”
“I have to hand it to the federal prosecutors, they picked the perfect case to try and force Apple’s hand,” Caen writes. “The iPhone that federal law enforcement wants access to was used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Farook. The bloodshed and violation he and his wife perpetrated remain open wounds, unable to heal because we still don’t know how or why it happened. The public desperately needs the answers that are in that phone.”
MacDailyNews Take: They do? How do you even know if there are any answers in that iPhone? It could be Al Capone’s Vault, for all anybody knows.
“Of course, Apple will file a legal opposition to the judge’s order and that if it fails, Apple will appeal the order to the Ninth Circuit, possibly all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Caen writes. “The case of Farook’s iPhone won’t be resolved any time soon. The wheels of justice turn very, very slowly. In the meantime, Apple CEO Tim Cook has called for congress to pass legislation backing Apple’s stance.”
“The implications of this case are serious for the Internet of Things,” Caen writes. “Convincing the public to trust that our personal data will not be shared or subject to a subpoena in everything from a criminal court to divorce proceedings, is a big obstacle to full adoption of new technologies. Actual big brothers are helpful and make life better. Technological Big Brothers are not. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, Apple should appeal this wrongheaded decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
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