Keller @ Large: Apple's Battle With FBI A Corporate Publicity Stunt
BOSTON (CBS) - When two hate-filled terrorists were killed after they slaughtered 14 people in San Bernardino, California last December, they left behind a key piece of evidence - an iPhone 5c, which the FBI believes may contain crucial information about their contacts and travels before and after the murders.
But the investigation has hit a wall, and now a federal district court judge has ruled that the only way we can get at the info is if Apple helps the feds hack into that phone.
Heaven forbid, says Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a press release where he claims cooperating would be an unprecedented cave-in to an overreaching government that would "undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers."
What a bunch of self-serving nonsense.
If you read the judge's ruling in this case, the facts are that Apple has routinely assisted with similar law enforcement searches in the past after officials followed all due process, as they have here. But heightened privacy protection has become part of Apple's marketing lately, so all of a sudden the rules appear to have changed.
Tim Cook claims their refusal to help is all about "protecting our customers" - the word "protect" is used nine times in his brief statement.
He'd better pray that no further murders are committed by people connected to the San Bernardino killers, murders that might have been prevented by cooperation with a careful, legal process focused on this one phone. Which is what should have happened already - in private, if you'll pardon the irony, instead of the corporate publicity stunt this has become.
