Should FBI Force Apple to Hack Its Own Phones?
No, said Rubio, they only want Apple to "disable the self-destruct mode on one iPhone" in the entire world.
"Apple doesn't want to do it," he said, "because they think it hurts their brand. Well, let me tell you, their brand is not superior to the national security of the United States of America."
The other candidates agreed and polls show, so do most other Americans. "I think allowing terrorists to get way with things is bad for America," said Ben Carson, showing a keen grasp of the obvious.
But on closer examination, the ambitions of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies reach far beyond one cellphone.
Apple's attorney has released details of a dozen instances in recent months in which the federal government sought data from Apple devices by invoking the All Writs Act of 1789, the same law the feds are citing in the San Bernardino cellphone case.
An Apple spokesman told Chicago Tribune reporter Meg Graham that the company has received some 10,000 requests within the past year and has complied with 80 percent of them.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance says his office has 175 phones linked to various cases that it cannot open because of encryption.
Calling cellphones "the only warrant-proof consumer products in American history," Vance said the choice of whether to keep something encrypted should not be left up to Apple.
In other words, don't expect law enforcement to back away after cracking "only one phone." Law-enforcement requests for access to phones are already common.
Whether you call the technology a "backdoor" or not, once the precedent is set in court, there is no end to the number of phones that could be decrypted in coming years.
No wonder Apple CEO Tim Cook calls the creation of a program for the FBI to unlock an iPhone the "software equivalent of cancer." Once it is created, it is virtually impossible in this world of hackers and malware to keep it out of the hands of crooks and tyrants -- such as China and other regimes where one's political views and other cellphone secrets can lead to prison or worse.
And, besides, once the government has permission to order a private company to invent a new product, one wonders what else can the government order a private company to do?
A growing consensus of high-tech executives, law enforcement officials and politicians prefers to see solutions through legislation, not the courts. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are proposing a digital security commission for that purpose.
Good idea. With the future of digital communications, as well as personal liberties, at stake, turning to laws as ancient as the All Writs Act of 1789 for guidance makes as much sense as a horse and buggy on the Indianapolis 500 track.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
