Robert Siciliano, an identity-theft expert, argues that Apple should not build a backdoor for the FBI to unlock iPhones. He warns that a government backdoor would set a dangerous precedent and could be abused, even if created as a one-time tool.
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Let's get the view of one more IT professional. Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield. He joins me live via Skype from the US state of Maine. Welcome to our broadcast.
Thank you so much.
Robert, you work in this field. Would Apple be setting a dangerous precedent?
Without a doubt. By creating a one-time operating system, as they say, for the FBI, there's no question that that would be used and abused by many in the government agencies, and ultimately that will be used for access to information that they should not have access to.
In the U.S., the battle between national security and privacy is obviously nothing new. This was the issue at the center of the whole Edward Snowden disclosure. Is this really a case of either national security or privacy?
So, ultimately, it does boil down to both issues, and it is a sensitive— there ultimately are many sensitive issues here that need to be discussed in an open forum. And there's no saying, you know, what's right or what's wrong. As a security professional, my first concern, of course, is security of the public and what can— that brings with it the ability to— privacy of the individuals affected.
OK, so Robert, Apple's approach to this has been ambiguous so far. It's believed to have helped U.S. investigators crack iPhones dozens of times in the past, usually to prosecute drug cases. And in China, state news agencies have reported Apple opened its software to several rounds of security reviews. So what's the difference this time around?
Well, there is a difference because Apple is providing information to government agencies in situations when it's readily available to them. But when the FBI is asking to become the device to reveal anything and everything on it going forward, that is problematic. That is unprecedented, which means that, you know, with that information, with that technology, with that new iOS created for the FBI, that ultimately the FBI could use that for any phone going forward, uh, no matter what, and that could be a problem.
Robert Siciliano with Hotspot Shield, thank you for your time.
