UPDATE: Of course, all Apple had to do was send a message to the phone to disable the delete data after ten failed attempts. Doesn’t need a backdoor, the FBI could presumably then just run through all possible PINs and gain access. More*
Apparently, the FBI asked Apple to help them hack into an iPhone by requesting an update to iOS that would create a backdoor and let them unlock and decrypt the phone without its contents being auto-deleted if they were to simply try and fail with ten passwords. Apple boss Tim Cook told them to go forth and multiply in so many words, posting in an open letter in response to the request on the Apple website. Apparently, Google is standing behind his statement regarding user privacy and freedom of speech and all that too…
But, doesn’t the FBI (or the NSA and GCHQ) have agents who could reverse engineer iOS or Android and create their own version of the operating systems to get into this one phone that is associated with a specific act of terrorism if that’s all they need to do? Or, is it that they actually just want Apple and other companies to save them the trouble and make it possible to update all phones with an option for rear entry to any device now and in the future without having to worry about encryption or piffling matters of privacy?
Stick to your guns Tim! Keep telling the FBI to shove it where the sun don’t shine and slam that backdoor in their face.