Macworld:
Make no mistake: This is unprecedented, and the situation was deliberately engineered by the FBI and Department of Justice to force a showdown that could define limits our civil rights for generations to come. This is an issue with far-reaching implications well beyond a single phone, a single case, or even Apple itself.
As a career security professional, this case has chilling implications.
Mogull is my go-to guy when it comes to security and privacy issues. When he writes, I pay attention. I’ve also got an audio interview with him on tonight’s Your Mac Life show. He’ll be on right after The Loop’s Publisher, Jim Dalrymple.
It will damage exports of the US to force a backdoor on all Apple devices. Citizens of other countries are already suspicious of all US goods, this is not helping.
The annoying part is that many people are bashing Apple for this, and they don’t really understand what’s going on. They don’t understand their own privacy is seriously at risk here.
Go Tim Cook, go.
Good point. Apple is successfully global now. But will Congress pass legislation that prohibits the sale of a phone without a digital ‘back door’ in the U.S.? Doubtful.
Furthermore, what happens to all that tax revenue lost as a result of Apple moving operations to another country. True, the U.S. doesn’t get the lion’s share of Apple’s tax revenue overall, but it’s not a trivial loss by any measure—2%-3% of all U.S. taxes. They are the largest tax payer in the U.S. No, the U.S. tax payers will have to close that gap as well.
The truth is Congress doesn’t want this, and I believe the Obama administration doesn’t want this either. The FBI wants this so they can look tough on terrorism while also fulfilling their obligated mandate. But nobody can have it both ways. If Apple opens up the iPhone for one, they open it up for all.