Apple’s Row with FBI- All You Need to Know

In an ongoing quarrel with the FBI, the Cupertino Company, Apple has got the support of other tech giants like Google, Facebook, etc. Let us dig deep into the matter to find out the reasons for Apple’s unsupported stand toward the investigating agency and the strong support it has got for it.

Here is an event that compelled Apple to compromise with the iPhone users’ privacy: On December 2, 2015, two extremists killed 14 people and made 22 people severely injured in San Bernardino, California. As a part of an investigation, the FBI wanted Apple’s assistance in encrypting iPhones used by the extremists. Even the court directed Apple to assist the FBI, but Apple’s head honcho Tim Cook bluntly denied it and justified his move by saying: These are the right things to do. Other tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook have announced their support to Apple in this matter, and now these companies are going for a joint court filing to appeal against the directive of the court.

Double standards for breach of privacy

Apple has argued that the government had no legal authority to force any company to weaken the security features of its products. Apple and other tech majors think that this will start the dangerous trend in which the government will get access to anyone’s iPhone in the future. But then, social media giants Facebook and Twitter along with the tech giants Apple and Google share some of the private information of their users with the private companies and marketers. These biggies share records of users’ online behavior for the sake of marketing. They don’t consider this sharing as a breach of privacy.

Here, the case is of a gruesome massacre done by the terrorists with the possible backing of ISIS organization. Therefore, as per a result of a nation-wide poll, about 51 percent of Americans think that Apple should help the FBI unlocking the iPhone of the perpetrators of San Bernardino murder.

Conclusion

Though the Internet rights group has hailed Tim Cook’s unbending stand and extended its support to Apple, it is fair to mention that renowned tech and social media companies have double standards when it comes to privacy protection of their users’ sensitive data. They are reluctant to share the data with the government while willingly share the same with the private advertising companies to earn the hefty revenue.