From Reason. Relevant sentences: “…Apple’s battle isn’t against a one-off court order to crack an encrypted phone; it’s the latest skirmish in the government’s ongoing war against privacy protections—as well as an act of resistance against federal efforts to conscript the private sector into its crusade.
…The tech giant’s public resistance is a block to officials’ proven inability to keep secrets of any sort, and the emptiness of its promises to fulfill assurances of confidentiality.
…It’s almost certainly true that the FBI doesn’t intend to share the weakened operating system far and wide. But the very public battle between law enforcement and a tech industry giant escalated even as federal officials scrambled to clean up the mess left by hackers’ release of personal information on 20,000 FBI employees and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security officers.
…The weakened operating system sought by the FBI, easing access to iPhones, would logically be a very desirable target for hackers both freelance and state-sponsored. And while FBI Director Comey promises “We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” restraint in its use would depend not only on FBI intentions, but on the integrity of government security procedures that have proven to be insufficient to the task, time and again.”
It will only be a matter of time before the backdoor master key is stolen and “loose on the land” if Apple caves. It’s only a matter of how many people will buy the “threat of terrorism” baloney that will be trotted out and escalated as the battle continues.
