I Phone maker, Apple has stated on a report in the New York Times that its engineers were attempting to update the security of its phones. If they successfully do so the company would create a significant technical challenge for law enforcement agencies, even if the Obama administration wins its fight over access to data stored on an iPhone. The FBI would then have to find another way to defeat Apple security, setting up a new cycle of court fights and, yet again, more technical fixes by Apple.
We are in for an arms race unless and until Congress decides to clarify who has what obligations in situations like this,” Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the newspaper.
Companies have always searched for software bugs and patched holes to keep their code secure from hackers. But since the revelations of government surveillance made by Edward J. Snowden, companies have been retooling their products to protect against government intrusion.
But for Apple, security is also a global marketing strategy. The new security measures would not only be helping the company in its fight with the government, but it also reassures it investors and customers.
On this security issue Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D.Cook, in an interview with the ABC news said “For all of those people who want to have a voice but they’re afraid, we are standing up, and we are standing up for our customers because protecting them we view as our job,”
Apple added that the permission for access would set a dangerous legal precedent and expand government surveillance powers. It is to be noted that Law enforcement agents around the country have already said they have hundreds of i Phones they want Apple to unlock if the FBI wins this case. So this is definitely something that Apple has taken seriously for the issue that only 38 percent of the Americans have supported, according to a poll by the Pew Research Centre.
