iphone

Dec. 28, 2017: This year saw a new level of insecurity for many reporters operating around the world. Two members of the media look back at journalism in 2017. Plus, why two Reuters journalists are being detained in Myanmar; Roy Moore tries to stave off his election defeat; how one New York school is preparing its students to enter the workforce; and why private pensions are becoming a thing of the past. 

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

A California judge has ordered Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, but Apple is opposing the FBI request and the court order.

The federal order, issued by Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym  on Wendesday, directs Apple to “build special software that would essentially act as a skeleton key capable of unlocking the phone,” our partner The New York Times reports.

Though the company has helped the FBI before, CEO Tim Cook issued a lengthy statement explaining why Apple is digging in its heels. It reads in part: 

“We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good. Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.

“Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”

Cook later added:

“The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the [1789] All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.”

According to Katie Brenner, a technology reporter for our partner The New York Times, this fight may become the signature case on privacy and security in the age of encryption.

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a strongly worded letter this week explaining why he is appealing a court order to unlock and access data from an iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook who, along with his wife, killed 14 people and injured nearly two dozen at a social service agency in San Bernardino, California last year. 

Apple was issued an order by a California magistrate judge to help FBI investigators unlock the iPhone, which would mean Apple would have to create a new software tool to override specific security protections built to protect customer data; essentially creating a backdoor to obtain the information.  It’s the latest chapter in a long battle between the Justice Department and Silicon Valley.

Here to weigh in on Apple’s privacy dilemma is Susan Hennessey, a former attorney for the National Security Agency and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.