Apple’s counsel Bruce Sewell is set to head to Capitol Hill to attend a hearing on security versus privacy after the FBI’s iPhone access requests.
One could nearly write a children’s story called Mr Cook goes to Washington, but that won’t be the case this week: Apple’s general counsel, Bruce Sewell, is set to take the fight over the FBI’s iPhone access requests to Capitol Hill.
Sewell is set to attend a hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on ‘the balance between national security and personal privacy’.
Read: Latest twist in the Apple vs. FBI dispute
Concurrently, Apple has filed a motion asking US courts to void a judge’s order, placed on the 16th of February, on the basis that the order violates ‘the company’s constitutional rights’.
In a 65 page document, Apple stated that the FBI’s requests to access the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone (and, allegedly, 11 other iPhones) is “not about one isolated iPhone… Rather, this case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe.”
Both moves have seen Apple and the law escalate the situation. The FBI has requested that Apple create a version of iOS that would be susceptible to brute force hacking attempts, while Apple’s latest move – allegedly – has been to develop new forms of security for the mobile operating system.
The hearing at Capital Hill, set to take place next Tuesday, has been titled “The Encryption Tightrope: Balancing Americans’ Security and Privacy,” with testimony from FBI Director James Comey set to begin at 1pm ET.
Read: Google‘s Sundar Pichai backs Apple over FBI requests
Apple has publicly denounced the FBI’s access requests, with Cook writing an open letter to the company’s consumers. Further, Google CEO Sundar Pichai as well as Facebook and Twitter have voiced their support for Apple in the debate. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates expressed his support for the FBI’s request to access the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone as it made for a ‘particular case.’
Read: Bill Gates sides with the FBI against Apple
Both Cook and Pichai have argued that even one request by the FBI makes for a ‘dangerous precedent’.
Stay tuned for further coverage, and be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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