After Google’s CEO showed his open support for Tim Cook and Apple’s refusal to create a backdoor into the iPhone, via a special version of iOS, Social Media giants Facebook and Twitter joined the fight. Their input comes after a series of public statements from Microsoft and WhatsApp.
Last night, Microsoft President Brad Smith tweeted his view on the encryption issue that has Apple and the FBI in a tough spot.
In a world where we need to keep both the public safe and privacy rights secure, backdoors take us backwards. https://t.co/YkWk57cXHu
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 19, 2016
Jan Koum, from WhatsApp, took a similar stance, adding that Tim Cook has his respect and admiration for the open letter he adressed on Wednesday.
http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/ – I have always admired Tim Cook for his stance on privacy and Apple’s efforts to…
Posted by Jan Koum on Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Now, Facebook and Twitter showed Apple they are not alone in this battle. Facebook’s message was, in fact, inspired by the Apple letter. While they respect the “difficult and essential work of law enforcement to keep people safe”, it’s not right to be put in a corner to weaken security systems and the privacy of millions of users: “These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies’ efforts to secure their products.”
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, was more succint, using his platform to send an encouraging message: “We stand with @tim_cook and Apple (and thank him for his leadership)!”
The FBI might want just the data from the iPhone5C used by one of the terrorists from San Bernardino, but by asking for a new software that allows this, it opens the gate to a flood of hacking threats.
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