The most popular phone manufacturers are Apple and Samsung. For the last couple years, it has been a competition and debate over which one is better, the iPhone or the Galaxy. Whenever an iPhone comes out, a new Samsung Galaxy phone is right behind it. They are both well-made phones and have their pros and cons in comparison to each other. However, the iPhone may have the edge when it comes to security.
Recently, Apple has been in the news for going through a legal battle with the FBI. The FBI has demanded that Apple provide them a way to crack the locks on iPhones in order to look through the phone of a terrorist who attacked civilians back in December 2015.
My immediate reaction was shock! I thought the FBI and the government could already get access to whatever information they wanted. For all my conspiracy theorists out there, we now have proof that the government is not listening to our calls. Well, at least not all of our calls. Apple is refusing to create a “backdoor” for the FBI to go into Apple phones. This raises two essential questions:
1. Should Apple provide the FBI with a way to access iPhones so that they can look into the phone of a terrorist?
Apple is making the right decision by choosing to not make a way for the FBI to gain access into iPhones. In that same article in the Washington Post, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, said everything was done to assist the FBI. I can understand where both sides are coming from and the information on that phone can be extremely important to combat terrorism. A resolution would be for Apple to unlock the phone and hand it over to the FBI without giving them the way to access the all other iPhones. That may not be possible but I hope it is at least being explored. Let’s move onto the second question.
2. Is the FBI able to get into Samsung phones?
Unfortunately I believe the answer is yes. Anyone who has had an iPhone knows the consequences of putting in a wrong password. It can go as far as having to call Apple in order to get your phone unlocked. With an Android, you wait 30 seconds and then try again. Apple delivers on security and, as a Samsung user, I feel uneasy about not feeling like I have the same level of security.
Apple has said that it will not budge on its stance to not create a backdoor for the FBI to skip security programs. This is a complex situation - being that we need to do everything we can to stop terrorism. However, at the same time, do we provide the government the ability to bypass our personal space and access to all our information? That is a question for another article.
