iPhone Backdoor: Good or Bad?

The internet has been abuzz today with news that Apple is opposing the FBI’s request to hack into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone. Citing unprecedented security risks, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, thought that such a move could undermine security for existing Apple customers, and the digital world at large.

As it stands now, the iPhone’s encryption key can only be bypassed by the user or anyone who knows the password to the device. If the FBI’s request is granted and an iPhone backdoor is developed, cybercriminals and hackers would get easier access to iPhones in general.

“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers,” Cook said.

The government requested the order under the All Writs Act, a law dating to the colonial era that has been used as a source of authority to issue orders that are not otherwise covered by a statute. Though Apple has previously complied with court orders under that statute to retrieve data from iPhones running earlier versions of its operating system, it is now resisting such an order in a separate iPhone case in Brooklyn. That case, unlike the one in California, involves a phone with software that allows the firm to extract data.

Some legal scholars, however, said the use of the All Writs Act in the California Apple case presents a slippery slope issue. “If the writ can compel Apple to write customized software to unlock a phone, where does it end?” said Ahmed Ghappour, a professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law. “Can the government use it to compel Facebook to customize an algorithm that predicts crime? It’s not clear where the line will be drawn, if at all.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the government’s request would “create a dangerous precedent.”

“Companies should comply with warrants to the extent they are able to do so, but no company should be forced to deliberately weaken its products,” said Wyden. “In the long-run, the real losers will be Americans’ online safety and security.”

Other tech companies have demonstrated support for Apple on this issue.