US senators have threatened both Apple and Facebook and demand that they create a back door through which users' data can be accessed or they will find a way to do so against their will. Sources told Reuters that several members of Congress have informed Apple and Facebook of the need to give law enforcement officials a way to view encrypted user data. What is the secret of these threats and why?
Why access encrypted data
The lawmakers' argument was that there is encrypted data that must be accessed by law enforcement and during investigations in order to address many cases, including child abuse, shootings, and others. In the past, jurists have faced a problem in dealing with encrypted evidence, and the inability to access devices may disrupt and sometimes halt the progress of investigations.
Tech companies' reaction
For its part, Apple strongly refused the request to open a back door in its operating system, and this is not the first time that it was asked to do so, as there was a tense atmosphere in 2016 between the iPhone and the FBI after they requested the same thing at the time, but Apple believes that user privacy is one of the rights. To be enjoyed by every person.
As for Facebook, which provides a complete encryption system for its WhatsApp application, it intends to encrypt the rest of its applications such as Instagram and Facebook in order to protect the privacy of its users, but this step from Facebook is rejected by members of Congress and they want the social network not to implement it at the present time.
The hearing
Both Jay Sullivan, president of privacy at Facebook, and Eric Newchwander, president of privacy at Apple, attended the hearing before US senators. Instead of advocating for users ’rights, they criticized each other in an effort to sacrifice the other. Facebook's head of privacy said their company does not make devices or operating systems and it checks for illegal content. As for the head of privacy at Apple, he refuted these accusations from Facebook and said that Apple does not have forums and pages for strangers to communicate with each other, and we do not examine the content of our users to create profiles for them.
The writer's point of view
These politicians may have a respectful point of view, but the problem that they cannot understand is the creation of a weakness in encryption, which would open the door for hackers and others to abuse those security flaws, which means an explicit violation of users' privacy, as it could lead to monitoring ordinary users before. Governments so we can say goodbye to privacy.
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