A Report On The Security System - 1617 Words

In December of 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California. Authorities believe the two attackers were influenced by violent jihadist ideology. Both Farook and Malik were killed later that day in a gunfight with the authorities. Upon searching their house, law enforcement confiscated Farook’s corporate owned iPhone (Brown, 2016, p. 8). However, when the FBI tried to unlock this iPhone, they discovered that the security system in place on it would erase everything on the phone if more than ten unsuccessful attempts to open it occur. As a result, the Department of Justice asked Apple to help them gain access to the phone’s data (Sydell Wertheimer, 2016).†¦show more content†¦Hackers have been threatening people’s personal and private information for years, and companies like Apple have been aggressively developing and implementing better ways to keep digital information securer . If the government successfully forces this backdoor open, hackers are sure to find a way into it which will threaten millions of people’s security. It will expose digital communication to identity theft, hackers, and government agencies overreaching their legal boundaries. Dan Costa (2016) in PC Magazine stated, â€Å"Thanks to Edward Snowden, we also have ample evidence that the United States government maximizes every opportunity to intercept communications in the name of national security† (p.6). Also, this is in direct violation of the 4th Amendment, which states that people have the right to be secure against unlawful seizures of houses, papers, and effects. According to an expert on human rights with the United Nations, David Kaye, a report for the United Nation’s Rights Council released in 2015 showed, â€Å"†¦encryption and online anonymity advance freedom of opinion and expression† (Kary and Pettersson, 2016). What is significant a bout this report is that it included the input from other countries, including Cuba, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Turkey, Germany, Ireland, and the United States. All of their input was taken into