Ever since a couple carried out a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., last December, a large scale investigation was launched by the United States government to trace American ties with Islamic extremist groups, causing Apple to get entangled in the process.

“We pledge allegiance to khalifa bu bkr al bhaghdadi al quraishi,” the shooter, Syed Farook, said on a Facebook page before the shooting rampage, referring to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”

At this stage in the investigation, the FBI claims that Apple holds the key to concluding the case since more hidden information could potentially be on the phone. They are requesting Apple to write an encryption code to bypass the security system, causing disputes that goes beyond the single California case.

Apple’s policy and promise to never access customer’s information is part of their business model and the outcome of this case from an economical standpoint is unpredictable. Unlike Google who has been confirmed to tamper and expose customer information, Apple until now has pledged complete security.

“[W]e believe the contents of your iPhone are none of our business,” Apple’s chief executive officer Tim Cook said in his public letter.  

This week, there are more developments in the costly, controversial encryption battle. Notably, the FBI has requested for nine more iPhone’s and iPad’s, dating back to previous cases, taking place in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.

“Once a way to bypass the code is revealed, the encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge,” Cook said in his public letter. “…it would be equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks – from restaurants and banks to stores and homes.”

The code enables the FBI to break the encryption which lies within the phone and can potentially be accessed by hackers and cybercriminals through a backdoor.

To obtain the information inside the phone, the government is using the All Writs Act, dating back to the 18th century, which forces Apple to help third party authorities in their investigation.
Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has sided with Apple, claiming that privacy trumps justice and outcomes of this case could reach far beyond its current scope, entangling the government, in a matter of privacy and technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKvnq5gWtiw

For comments and concerns, contact Tanya at [email protected] or @tanya_raghu