Apple, the maker of iPhones, is refusing to comply with a federal court order to help the FBI unlock a cellphone used by the late Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik carried off a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in December that left 14 people dead.
Apple’s action now sets in motion a legal showdown – one that really is less about the dead Farook’s privacy and more about the privacy of all the rest of us.
Apple says it does not possess the technology to open the phone and will not create it because, once they do, that genie will be out of the box – not just for one phone, but for all phones. And that, according to Apple Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook, would threaten the privacy of all Apple customers.
It’s a thorny situation. And one that engenders understandable sympathy for both sides.
Law enforcement authorities say new encryption technologies hamper their ability to prevent and solve crime.