With much tension arising between the Federal Government and privacy advocates, Apple has received both praise and criticism regarding its opposition to creating a backdoor for iPhones. While this debate has been around for some time, the San Bernardino terrorist attack has brought the issue to new heights as the FBI has requested – or as Apple describes, demanded – that the tech company create a “new version of the iPhone operation system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation.” In a sense, this new operating system would act as a universal key which could later be used on different iPhones in future instances.
Apple CEO Tim Cook explains that while the company does mourn for the loss of 14 innocent Americans and is intent on supporting the government in solving such a horrible crime, creating this backdoor would establish a dangerous precedent. The government suggests this universal key could be used in just this particular situation. However, in his customer letter, Tim Cook explains that “once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devises,” diminishing the consumer data protection that Apple has worked so hard to ensure.