Apple Exec Says Unlocking iPhone Is 'Equivalent Of Cancer'; 'Bad For America'
Apple CEO Tim Cook has recently lashed FBI for its attempt to coerce the tech giant into complying a court order to hack into the iPhone belonging to a San Bernardino attacker via 'backdoor access'.
In his first televised interview, Cook likened FBI's request for an alternative iOS version as a "software equivalent of cancer" adding that is also "bad for America".
"The only way to get information -- at least currently, the only way we know -- would be to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the equivalent of cancer. We think it's bad news to write. We would never write it. We have never written it -- and that is what is at stake here .We believe that is a very dangerous operating system," said he as quoted by ABC News.
FBI, on the other hand, argues that the iPhone maker is simply exaggerating the risk implications to its devices adding that Apple actually had the "technical know-how to break into Farook's [one of the San Bernardino attackers] device only in a way that did not create a so-called 'backdoor' into every Apple device" as quoted a report by BBC News.
Meanwhile, experts are divided over the issue. Some think that Cook simply had drifting statements during the interview while others think that his arguments raise the bar of public opinion against government-led privacy interference.
"What he's done is he's resorted to something, forgive me, but close to demagoguery. The definition of demagoguery is what you just heard there, is when you appeal to people's emotions and passions and prejudice over rational judgment," remarked Yale School of Management Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld according to a report by CNBC.
In addition, Americans also appear divided on the issue according to two conflicting surveys. A poll conducted Pew Research Center revealed that majority of those asked supported FBI's stance. This is in conflict with a Reuters poll saying that 55% of the respondents fear that the Feds might use the so-called 'backdoor access' for domestic spying.
