Tim Cook claims the FBI is "overreaching" with its request to create what he calls a "backdoor" into the iPhone.
CNET
Apple boss Tim Cook has publicly denounced an FBI request to build a new version of iOS he claims could potentially crack any iPhone, calling the request "chilling."
On Tuesday a judge ordered Apple to assist investigators in unlocking an iPhone linked to December's terrorist attack in San Beadino, Califoia. But in an open letter posted on the company's website, the Apple CEO was that the proposed measures amount to the creation of a "backdoor" into encrypted devices that would "undermine the very freedoms and liberty our govement is meant to protect."
According to Cook, "the US govement has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone."
Encryption is a huge source of tension between private technology companies and law enforcement agencies. Companies such as Apple, Google and WhatsApp protect the privacy of their customers by encrypting your data, often in a way that even the companies themselves cannot unscramble. Although that allows unscrupulous users such as criminals or terrorists to communicate in secret away from the prying eyes of govement surveillance, tech companies justify such security measures by insisting that it's impossible to allow law enforcement agencies to crack encryption without opening the door for criminals to do the same.
The proposed measures will bypass security functions that limit how many times you can enter an incorrect password. Currently, an iPhone wipes itself if the wrong password is entered 10 times in a row. With that feature disabled, investigators could carry out a "brute force" attack -- simply entering password after password until they hit on the correct one.
Investigators requested the measures in order to access an iPhone 5C used by one of the perpetrators of the December 2015 terrorist attack in San Beadino. The worst terrorist attack in the US since 9/11, the shooting left 14 people dead and 22 injured.
The legal order calls for Apple to create new software -- what Cook calls a new version of iOS -- that would disable the auto-erase feature. The order specifies that the software should be coded to the specific device in question, but Cook claims that, "Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices." He described such software as "the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks."
If Apple is forced to create new measures to circumvent its own security features, it could mark a watershed moment in the ongoing negotiation between govement, the private sector and consumers on the subject of security, privacy and surveillance.
"We mou the loss of life and want justice for all those whose lives were affected [by the San Beadino attack]," said Cook, "and we have worked hard to support the govement's efforts to solve this horrible crime." But he describes the use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to call for these measures as an "overreach" by the US govement.
"We are challenging the FBI's demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country," Cook concludes. "While we believe the FBI's intentions are good, it would be wrong for the govement to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our govement is meant to protect."
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