General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If the FBI gets into the "terrorist's" iPhone, they'll get into yours [View all]Whiskeytide
(4,657 posts)... in a terrorist attack. You're right, the risk is very, very low. But a terrorist attack tends to terrorize. It terrorizes the electorate, which results in bad decisions in the voting booth. It terrorizes politicians and law enforcement, which also results in bad decisions in policy making and policing.
All of that is plenty of reason to want to stop another terrorist attack, right? So the question is, how far do we allow that effort to go as balanced against our rights to privacy? In other words, is what the FBI is asking of Apple an example of lawfully and properly trying to stop further attacks, or is it an example of terror causing bad policy making and bad policing?
If Apple has the information requested, and a warrant is obtained for it, I have no problem with it being turned over to the FBI.
If Apple doesn't have the information, but can get it with an already existing program to by-pass the phone's security systems, I also have no problem with that.
If Apple can create such a program, I'm ready to assume they already have done so. They really just don't want to give it to the FBI. Fine. Unlock that phone for the FBI, hand it back to them and say "you're welcome".
In the unlikely event Apple doesn't already have the program to get to the information the FBI wants from the phone, then I don't think - legally - the FBI can make them create it.
The devil in all this will be in the actual details. Either the FBI is using this attack to try and acquire an investigative tool for wider-spread use, or Apple doesn't want it's customers to know what they can know about their customers.