If federal officials can force Apple to assist them in breaking into an iPhone, it will mean U.S. companies will no longer be able to guarantee secure products, Edward Snowden said on Twitter Thursday.
“An FBI win against Apple results in an insecurity mandate,” the former National Security Agency contractor said. “A world where Americans can’t sell secure products, but our competitors can.”
An @FBI win against #Apple results in an insecurity mandate. A world where Americans can’t sell secure products, but our competitors can.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 18, 2016
He also pointed out that Gen. Michael Hayden, who previously led both the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency, has come out in favor of Apple, and highlighted an argument being made by the FBI. Specifically, the FBI asserts, “Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily.”
Experts have been arguing that the FBI does not require technical assistance to break into an iPhone, but is merely seeking to establish a legal precedent that Apple must be required to assist it in its investigations.
Earlier in the week, a federal court ordered Apple to assist the FBI in breaking into an iPhone 5C used by one of the perpetrators in a Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. That would involve developing new software that could be installed on the phone to disable a self-destruct feature that activates when an incorrect password is entered more than ten times.
In comments published Wednesday, Hayden said the international perspective he had developed as an intelligence leader motivated him to support Apple in the debate. “America is simply more secure with unbreakable end-to-end encryption,” Hayden said.
Without comment: the first paragraph of the introduction, page 3. https://t.co/o9SdSVu6fN pic.twitter.com/B84iAz46d9
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 18, 2016
The debate has sent shockwaves through Congress. In a statement on Thursday, security hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C., said Apple was protecting terrorists. “Our nation is at war and this iPhone was used to kill Americans. We need to protect our homeland, not terrorists. To [Apple CEO] Tim Cook and Apple, cooperate with the FBI,” Graham said.
In Wednesday comments to The Guardian, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., took the other side.
“This move by the FBI could snowball around the world,” Wyden said. “Why in the world would our government want to give repressive regimes in Russia and China a blueprint for forcing American companies to create a backdoor?”
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“Companies should comply with warrants to the extent they are able to do so, but no company should be forced to deliberately weaken its products. In the long run, the real losers will be Americans’ online safety and security,” he said.
