Apple Inc.,recently crossed words with the US Federal magistrate over accessing iPhones with "brute force" used by terrorists in the San Bernardino shoot-out in December 2015.
Objecting strongly to the court directive, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said that the indirect request by FBI backed by court order was "chilling." He held that the "implications were far beyond the legal case at hand," since it was "in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications."
Apple has strongly defended digital privacy and security of its users, in the past two years. Cook said that the Feb. 16 legal directive will be "challenged," garnering massive "LIKES" from mobile users.
His latest salvo, objecting to requests by federal surveillance agencies for backdoor access and tracking of user activity of major technology companies is in-line with earlier such government refusals.
In 2015, Cook had refused New York federal judge order to "unlock" devices that ran on operating system iOS 8 and higher. In the Dec 2, 2015 shooting, the terrorist's iPhone ran on iOS 9. Prosecutors have demanded that Apple override the encryption barriers in current operating system codes.
In 2014-15, after the Snowden-gate revealed National Surveillance Authorities tapping user conversation on iPhones, and Facebook as terrorism-prevention methods, major technology products and service providers have strengthened their privacy policies. Google and Apple introduced stronger default encryption standards, disallowing unlocking of iPhones running on version 8 and higher.
Cook continued the battle to protect the security amid privacy of Apple's digital users getting lost, according to forensics expert, Jonathan Zdziarksi. The expert predicted that intelligence agencies in the US have the expertise to break iPhone's encryption even without the Cupertino phone maker's intervention. Since the San Bernardino shooting case is investigated as an act of terrorism, investigators are authorized to crack the phone, according to Zdziarski.
Though, vociferous objection and refusal to unlock the iOS 9 device by Tim Cook could all be in vain, it does reinforce user trust in Apple Inc.
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