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Apple Draws A Line In The Sand |
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Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 01:41:27 +1100As expected there have been several articles in the New York Times Bits column about the dispute between Apple and the FBI regarding the the iPhone that belonged to the San Bernadino gunman. |
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In the March 10th edition, Nick Wingfield and Mike Isaac report a remarkable level of support for Apple which is involved in a dispute with the US Government over privacy.
The list includes Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snapchat and Yahoo. Not often that these companies would say anything nice about Apple. But they are set to signed briefs in support of Apple Generally tech companies consider the stakes to high to sit on the sidelines. If the FBI wins this case, it sets a dangerous new precedent for security and privacy of electronic data.
In another article in the March 13th issues of Bits by Michael Shear, David Sanger and Katie Benner, the arguments were summarised neatly. While President Obama gave rather luke-warm support to the FBI, it seemed that there was a growing sense of unease about the implications of this push to hack the iPhone and weaken Apple's security.
Then on March 18th, the editorial for Bits declared that even if the FBI won its dispute, Apple employees might still be able to argue that they had the legal right to refuse to comply with the request when ordered to do so.
It was beginning to seem as if the FBI and the other agencies that would like to establish the landmark precedent may have over-reached in their quest for constant and unrelenting surveillance.
Then on Monday, it was reported that the case had been postponed, as the FBI announced that they had found an alternative way into the phone.
Finally on the following week there was an announcement (as reported by Bits on Tuesday) that the DOJ had withdrawn the case. And everyone was left wondering what all the fuss had been about in the first place? Did they manage to hack the iPhone? Did the Feds go on a fishing expedtion and then abandon it when they realised they were losing the publicity contest?