Tech Companies, Security Experts Express Support For Apple

Tech Companies, Security Experts Express Support For Apple Apple's legal battle with the FBI over iPhone encryption continues: A federal magistrate, at the FBI's request, has ordered the tech giant to write software to help investigators circumvent iPhone security features to access a phone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Here's a sampling: The Risk To Dissidents' Lives International human rights and technology nonprofit Access Now, along with Wickr Foundation, a nonprofit group affiliated with the messaging app Wickr, looked at the international implications, particularly the risk for dissidents facing oppressive governments: Sponsor Message "Deliberately compromised digital security would undermine human rights around the globe. The Rights And Needs Of Users The American Civil Liberties Union highlighted the rights of Americans and what it identified as disproportionate impact on the poor: "While the government can in some circumstances require private parties to support law-enforcement investigations--for example, by requiring them to produce relevant evidence or give truthful testimony--the government does not hold the general power to enlist private third parties as its investigative agents to seek out information they do not possess or control. Sponsor Message The Future Of Devices A group of trade associations from the tech industry objected that the government's demand would "effectively dictate product design" — not just affecting users' security immediately but laying the groundwork for altered products well into the future.