Apple, The Apple of the Media's Eye and San Berindino's

I walk out of my Wednesday morning Security and Risk Analysis class and past the TV screen which usually has some CNN News flashingupon the screen. I usually walk past it, but this time it caught my attention. News headlines of Apple refusing to help the FBI unlock the San Bernardino attacker’s iPhone flash upon the screen. This controversial and civic security issue drags me in; I watch the TV and read the subtitles that scroll across the screen so long that I am almost late to my next class.

I did not even know about the San Bernardino attacks before the headline flashed across the screen on Wednesday morning. I guess I have been stuck in the Penn State Blue and White Bubble that the news I hear about is the news that blows up or the news that I want to hear. This blog has helped really come to terms with the fact that I should be keeping up on issues and evaluate the different opinions about the issue at hand to form my own educated opinion, not just an opinion of someone else.

Let’s go back to December, what was the San Bernardino attack and who was it targeted against?

The attack took place on December 2nd, 2015. Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire around noon on group of San Bernardino County Public Health Department workers during their holiday party that morning. They killed 14 people and wounded around 20 people; making the attack, the biggest and most devastating since the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

What this have to do with Apple?

If you haven’t read Apple’s Letter to their Customers, then here is the lowdown. Farook, the male attacker, possessed an iPhone. The authorities including the highlighted authority, the FBI, have been using GPS tracking and other information from sites like Facebook to gather information about the attackers, as they were not involved with the law before this incident. Up until this point, Apple, according to its letter and many news outlets, has been chill with helping out the FBI in investigations with its devices.

Now, Apple feels that the FBI has crossed a line of privacy. This time, they think that the only way they can give the FBI what they want/need is by creating a “backdoor” to Apple devices in a whole new version of the operating system. The FBI wants to be able to use a computer that will go through every combination of lock numerical password combinations, so that it cannot unlock the phone and the FBI can see who Farook called or where he went.

You ask, why can’t they do that now?

Do you remember that fancy little message that popped up when you try to “hack” into your best friend’s phone and fail multiple times? You know the message in red that says, you have 10 attempts and then this iPhone will auto-erase. AUTO-ERASE, is the key here. The FBI cannot use a password cruncher if the iPhone erases after 10 times, then all the evidence will be compromised.

There are two sides to this issue, the Apple side and the victim side. Many of the victim’s and the FBI believe that Apple refusing a judge’s request to help unlock the phone severely undermines national security. Many of the victims are outraged because not only do they want some sort of conclusion, but they believe it may provide further insight into how we can protect our country.

Google supports Apple in its decision to not create something that would compromise personal security. Along with the likes of Edward Snowden, who spoke out about Google’s silence on Twitter, before they spoke out. He said, “This is the most important tech case in a decade. Silence means @google picked a side, but it is not the public’s.”

Does keeping silent really speak louder than words? Personally, for this issue, it does.

Both sides of the issue, the Apple side and the victim side, both want the same thing security, but they want in different ways.

I feel as though Apple’s way is cautious and the safe way and the best way to go. I personally do not want my personal information that I keep on my phone, vulnerable to attacks or spying, “big brother” eyes. Opening a backdoor or even the opportunity for one not only creates a way for the FBI to get into the attackers phone, but it also creates future opportunity and temptation for our government and other governments to expand their rights and invade our privacy.