The US government and Apple Inc were to face off in court yesterday in a closely watched case that could have wide-reaching implications on digital security and privacy.
The crucial hearing before a federal judge in Southern California focuses on the battle between the tech giant and federal investigators who want help from Apple to unlock an iPhone linked to one of the shooters in the December last year terror attack in San Bernardino, California.
“It’s a fight over the future of high-tech surveillance, the trust infrastructure undergirding the global software ecosystem, and how far technology companies and software developers can be conscripted as unwilling suppliers of hacking tools for governments,” wrote Julian Sanchez, a surveillance law expert at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s also the public face of a conflict that will undoubtedly be continued in secret and is likely already well underway.”
Apple, backed by a broad coalition of technology giants like Google, Facebook and Yahoo, said that the FBI is seeking a “back door” into all iPhones as part of the probe into the Dec. 2 massacre that left 14 people dead.
It also contends that the government is overstepping legal bounds by using a statute called the All Writs Act, which dates back to 1789, in order to force Apple to hack into the iPhone in question.
The company said that in deciding the case, the court must take into account the “broader context,” which touches on the larger debate over data privacy.
The government has fired back, saying that Apple was not above the law and that its request for technical assistance concerns a single case — the Apple iPhone 5C, which was shooter Syed Farook’s work phone from the San Bernardino health department.
Both Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik died in a firefight with police after the attack. Two other mobile phones linked to the couple were found destroyed.
“It is a narrow, targeted order... The government and the community need to know what is on the terrorist’s phone, and the government needs Apple’s assistance to find out,” US Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief to the court.
Each side in the case has dug in its heels, exchanging a volley of legal briefs, with the outcome being watched closely across the globe.
Tech companies, security experts and civil rights advocates said the issue is not so much about one iPhone as it is about setting a precedent that would open the door to companies being forced to hand over customer data.
Also in question is whether Apple encryption engineers would abide by a court order to help the government unlock Farook’s iPhone.
The New York Times, citing more than half-dozen current and former Apple employees, said some might refuse to abide by a court order and others could even quit the company rather than undermine the security of the software they created.
Experts also said that the likelihood of any significant information being found on the iPhone is slim given that it was Farook’s work phone and that he and his wife apparently destroyed two other phones found after the attack.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”