Technology has become so advanced in the past 30 years that even cellphones can give an exact location of where you are in the world. On Apples smartphones, called iPhones, there is an app, which can give you the exact location of another person. Many would say that apps like those are intrusive and they reveal too much personal information. Most individuals would agree that smartphones enhance our lives by allowing us to have so much information at the touch of a button. Smartphones enable us to keep in touch with relatives that live far away and they allow us to be up to date on current events.
Although I would agree that smartphones
give us access to a lot of information, I don’t agree with how intrusive they
can in our day-to-day life. A few months ago there was a mass shooting in San
Bernardino at the Inland Regional center. The shooters, who were husband and
wife, orchestrated the entire attack. As the FBI was investigating the
shooter’s background, they obtained iPhones, which belonged to them. Apple iPhones
are equipped with high security encryption programs so that iPhone users
information cannot be stolen. It was made to protect the owner of the phone so
that their identity doesn’t get stolen or jeopardized. Because of this the FBI
could not gain access to the information inside the iPhone. It was a crucial
step for the FBI because they wanted to get all of the information they could
about these people so that they can have insight as to how this attack came to
be. The FBI was unsuccessful in hacking the iPhone so they contacted Apple to
“unlock” it for them. This caused there to be a dispute between the FBI and
Apple on the issue of how much privacy can citizens actually have. In a country
where we are supposed to be free, how can we be “free” is the government is
watching our every move and invading our privacy? It wouldn’t be fair for
anyone for the government to enlist the help of big companies like Apple to
hack electronic devices? There is a reason why Apple encrypts so much of our
information because we are supposed to have privacy when it comes to our
personal information. Apple stands by their promise to never undermine the
privacy of their customers. In a case like this, its difficult to decide how
much is too much. Should the government have the ability to know every detail
of our lives? I don’t believe that the government should have this power over
us. If Apple complied with the FBI and their demands, “it would require writing new software that
would be "a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks.
Cook's argument was that if the FBI could access this iPhone, nothing would
stop them from doing it to many others” (Kharpul). Protecting the interest of all the
consumers is far more important than hacking one person iPhone.
On the other hand, many would argue that
in this case it is reasonable of the FBI to be able to hack a terrorist’s
iPhone. Who cares about the privacy of this one person if they killed so many
innocent people? I would agree that the FBI should be able to have access to this
iPhone in this case because so many other lives could be at risk. If the FBI
has good intentions when it comes to protecting the interest of the American
people than yes, they should have the ability to go through someone’s phone. Although
this is true, Apple or any other company shouldn’t give the government this
much power over our personal lives. Smartphones hold so much personal
information that it is a device, which should be protected at all costs. No matter what the situation is, we have our
rights as American citizens to have privacy.
Kharpul, Arjun. "Apple vs FBI: All You Need to Know." CNBC. 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
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