Trump, who appeared on the morning news show Fox and Friends this morning, said he agrees "100 percent with the courts" about the matter, as reported by Politico. "Who do [Apple] think they are? They have to open it up," he said.
Apple published an open letter earlier today stating that the company will oppose an order from a U.S. federal judge that demands the company create a new version of iOS that circumvents several important security features, allowing access to encrypted smartphone data to assist the FBI's investigation.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that while the company is "shocked and outraged" by the San Bernardino attacks last December, and presumes "the FBI's intentions are good," the company strongly believes that building a "backdoor" for U.S. government or law enforcement would be "too dangerous to create."
Apple has routinely encouraged the U.S. government to embrace its "no backdoors" encryption policy. In June 2015, Cook spoke about the importance of privacy at the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Champions of Freedom event in Washington D.C., and he has made several other privacy-centric speeches as chief executive.
Apple stopped storing encryption keys for devices running iOS 8 or later, making it impossible for the iPhone maker to unlock content requested by U.S. authorities on passcode-protected devices. iOS also has an optional Touch ID setting that erases all data after 10 failed passcode attempts.
California and New York assemblymen have introduced bills that aim to ban sales of devices with such strong levels of encryption, with a $2,500 fine per phone sold in violation, but bipartisan legislation was subsequently introduced in U.S. Congress that could block these state-level efforts. None of the bills have yet to be signed into law.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Article Link: Donald Trump Criticizes Apple for Opposing iPhone 'Backdoor' Order: 'Who Do They Think They Are?'
