Apple vs FBI: First salvo in the information war

摘要

The iPhone that started it all was found in the rented car used by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, after both had been killed by police in December. Four hours earlier the pair had killed 14 people and wounded 22 more in a mass shooting in San Bernadino, California. The FBI thinks the phone holds valuable evidence but has been unable to bypass the phone's lock screen to access the information stored on it. Last week, the FBI publicly demanded that Apple help it break in. Apple said no. In an open letter to customers posted on Apple's website, CEO Tim Cook argued that breaking into the phone would weaken the security of every iPhone. Cook made it clear that in its civil disobedience Apple was making a stand against the US government to protect the rights of all its customers. It was a popular move. The letter has been shared hundreds of thousands of times across various social media sites.