Apple vs. FBI

 By: Brendan K.

These days our phones are our lives. We don’t want anyone to be looking through it and seeing what we have to hide, even the government. Well what would you say if they were trying to look in a phone of a terrorist? Well recently the popular company Apple and the U.S. government have been butting heads when if comes to data encryption, the act of concealing information through a code, in Iphones.

After a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California leaving 14 people dead. The FBI has been trying to investigate and learn more about the shooter by getting into his phone. So they approached Apple CEO, Tim Cook, hoping for help to encrypt the data. Well the FBI didn’t exactly get the answer they want.

Apple has been trying to strengthen their brand and company image by following through with what they promise their customers. In June of 2014 Apple came out with a new privacy policy basically stating they value their customers trust, and respect their privacy by protecting it with strong encryption. In the policy it is stated “Finally, I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”

Apple’s Privacy policy shows a lot of concern for their customers and they are using it as a public branding strategy. Now that the government keeps coming to Apple for help to extract data from supposed criminals they are refusing. Doing so would tarnish the Apple brand. Now Apple is being taken to court by the government to gain access to the encrypted files in the Iphone.

I think that this a very bold move of Apple. They are standing by their word, which really in my mind elevates their brand among many others. They have a policy and they are sticking to it and won’t go down without a fight to win. Even if the company is eventually forced to decrypt that phone data I believe they showed that they are loyal to their customers and did everything in their power to protect their privacy.

Sources:
Almasy, Steve. "14 Killed in San Bernardino Shooting; Suspect ID'd." CNN. Cable News Network, 3 Dec. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.  

Cook, Tim. "Privacy - Apple." Apple. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

Frankel, Todd C. "Showdown over IPhone Reignites the Debate around Privacy." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.