Apple, by creating a new IOS that allowed the FBI to open the
phone with brute force, would create a back door that could not
be contained and could end up in the wrong hands (SPECTRE?);
and
The government cannot conscript firms into surveillance upon
private citizens.My response to the first claim: If Apple was creating a back door
for others to use, it was a pretty unimpressive door. More like a doggy
door. Apple estimated that it would take six to ten engineers a month
to figure this out.^5 That ain’t the Manhattan Project. Apple also
maintained this key could end up in the wrong hands and prove hugely
dangerous.^6 We aren’t talking about the microchip that gave rise to the
Terminator, which travels back in time to destroy all humanity. And
the FBI even agreed to let the work take place on the Apple campus,
ensuring it didn’t become an app we can download from
http://www.FBI.gov.^7 Again, these aren’t G-men with itchy trigger fingers
lurking in doorways and alleys outside the Biograph Theater.
Their second argument, that a commercial firm shouldn’t be
enlisted in government fights against its will, is a marginally better
one. However, does this mean if Ford Motor can construct a car trunk
the FBI can’t unlock, where it believes there is a kidnap victim
suffocating, then the Bureau can’t ask Ford to help them get in?
Judges issue search warrants every day. They comply with search-
and-seizure laws that prevent indiscriminate searches, and order
homes, cars, and computers searched for evidence or information that
might prevent or solve a crime. Yet, somehow, we’ve decided the
iPhone is sacred. It isn’t obliged to follow the same rules as the rest of
the business world.
The Sacred and the Profane
Objects are often considered holy or sacred if they are used for
spiritual purposes, such as the worship of gods. Steve Jobs became the
innovation economy’s Jesus—and his shining achievement, the