Should Apple let the FBI tamper with their products?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been in dispute with multi-million tech corporation, Apple to create a system that could unlock the phone and help further in investigation of San Bernardino Shooter’s Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. In December of 2015, Farook and his wife Malik shot and killed 14 innocent people while 22 others were injured. After an intense speed chase, both Farook and Malik were killed in gun battle with police. Investigators were able to collect evidence from the rental car and home of the tyrannical shooters, including the iPhone of Farook. The only problem is, Farook is dead and the iPhone has a four digit passcode that the FBI cannot crack. How does this become a problem for the public?

Pretty much everyone who owns an iPhone knows after 10 attempts of trying to guess a passcode the phone will automatically shut off. The only way to fix the problem is to either connect it to itunes to allow the iphone to factory reset itself, or take it to the nearest Apple store to reset the phone. Either way, there is no way to obtain the data that was erased from the phone. The FBI fears this will happen to Farook’s phone, which could hold much more evidence to the massacre.

On February 16, a court order was issued stating Apple must cooperate with the FBI. CEO, Tim Cook has said Apple will not comply and believes this system could affect privacy, safety, and security here in the US. Cook fears Apple is being forced into making iPhones less safe and secure and also argues criminals could hack the software to unlock other iPhones and steal important data.  

The corporation is not wrong. A phone holds a lot of important information such as emails, contacts, and bank numbers. The FBI shouldn’t have the right to obtain a software that could access anyone’s information at any time. The FBI says they only need the program once to unlock phone of a terrorist but, it will only lead to the bureau wanting to use software on other suspects and different crimes in the future. We honestly don’t know how honest our justice system is or if they’ll abuse the program. This software is a big invasion to privacy to anyone and living in an era of progressing technology doesn’t help either.

The bureau argues it will bring justice to San Bernardino and the victims families. This is what makes this dispute frustrating. Do we want privacy when it comes to our phones or, do we want justice for the victims of San Bernardino. It does sound selfish if we chose our privacy over  the victim’s justice, but it makes you wonder if trying to unlock Farook’s cell phone the FBI’s last resort in solving the case?

The dispute between Apple and the FBI continues and I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how both sides playout this tough situation.