Tech musing #3 Thoughts on "Citizen Four" and Aftershock

I chose to watch “CitizenFour”, the HBO documentary about the release of NSA information and how it was kept secret. I went through a range of emotions. When they show snippets of news broadcasts and interviews with analysts, I was surprised how more people were concerned with who was leaking the information and not the information itself. I couldn't understand why they weren't diving into what was being said and the information that was being displayed in front of them but were more concerned with raising their pitch forks and capturing the whistleblower. Then I was in shock of the bravery and courage it took. There was a line in one of the snippets where snowden mentioned to the documentarian that he knows his fate is sealed, that he isn't concerned with his safety at the moment but concerned with releasing the information in a timely fashion to notify the american people and the world. And lastly I was scared, it's amazing to me that the one man being honest and open about rule breaking is the one who has to fear for his life. He has to be the one on the run and not those spying on their citizens and illegally monitoring all their communication channels. That we are in a world where the whistleblower who exposes something with such immense impact, a blatant and intentional violation of the american citizens rights, is the man in the wrong and on the run.

Nowadays it's almost impossible to listen to the news and not hear about the iPhone/FBI incident. NPR’s Alina Selyukh recently wrote an article about the incident stating the FBI had gained access to the shooter’s iphone. If you are unfamiliar with the dispute between Apple and the FBI for months the FBI has tried to gain court orders and force Apple to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. But not only did they want that iPhone unlocked, they wanted a backdoor system to unlock any iPhone upon request. Apple felt this was an invasion of their customers privacies and refused to entertain the FBI’s requests. Eventually the FBI contracted a third party who gained access to the phone without the help of Apple.

In the initial aftermath, experts are speculating whether this will lead to an increase in security apps and locks on customers phone, or more FBI requests for big businesses to follow their orders. Its also now leading Apple to demand the FBI release the information of the third party tool used to unlock the iPhone.

I don’t believe the FBI was wrong to ask Apple for help in unlocking a terrorists phone when they discovered they couldn’t do so themselves. However, to demand and obtain court orders forcing them to unlock it and add in back doors in all future devices is absolutely an invasion of privacy and Apple had every right to not comply with their demands.

Selyukh, Alina. "The FBI Has Successfully Unlocked The IPhone Without Apple's Help." NPR. NPR, 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.