Cybersecurity
The Government Wants Access to Smartphones. What You Should Know
- What they're doing, why they're doing it and what happens next
- Can the U.S. make Apple let it in to a seized device?
Phone in chains
Photographer: Craig Warga/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
“We’re not at war -- we care about the same things,” FBI Director James Comey says of the struggle between the U.S. and the tech sector over how private your smartphone should be.
The government wants to work with companies such as Apple Inc. and Google to stop criminals and terrorists from exploiting the encryption technology built into some smartphone operating systems, Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, echoing President Barack Obama’s call to action. U.S. officials warn it can be used to conceal evidence or plots, as it may have in the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and want a way to crack a phone when they believe it holds vital information.