Apple, Privacy And The Fight Against Crime

How does the world’s biggest company aid law enforcement while keeping your data protected?

- Alex Blake

Apple is well known for its dispute with the FBI over its refusal to unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter in the USA. That dispute has led some people to characterise Apple as being ‘anti-police’, a characterisation that Apple vigorously denies.

For its part, Apple claims to comply with lawful requests for appropriate customer data. But what safeguards are in place to ensure the company doesn’t just give away info freely or inappropriately? And how does Apple balance its customers’ privacy with the fight against crime? We decided to investigate.

At the time of the San Bernardino incident, the FBI demanded Apple create a piece of software that could decrypt the shooter’s phone. Apple refused, stating that creating a backdoor in its software would put all of its users’ data at risk from anyone who was able to exploit the backdoor.

Since then, Apple’s stance has remained unchanged. The issue reared its head again in January 2020 when the FBI again asked Apple to unlock the phone of a suspected shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. Apple again refused, claiming it had already turned over all the information it had access to.

In a statement, Apple said: “We have the greatest respect for law enforcement and have always worked cooperatively to help in their investigations. When the FBI requested information from us relating to this case a month ago, we gave them all of the data in our possession and we will continue to support them with the data we have available.”