Dear Mr. Cook,
I’ll admit it, I’ve never owned an Apple product, though I have used them for business and once spent 8 hours one New Years early morning playing a submarine game on an original Macintosh. I never really liked the operating systems or the cost of your company’s products. To this day I find the continuous hype surrounding Apple products and updates distasteful. I think we have become a disconnected people, using tools that promote communication to isolate ourselves using apps like Twitter or Facebook (I don’t partake) instead of having real human interaction.
That said, I believe that Apple is now leading a fight that is long overdue. It is a fight against a tyrannical overreach of government agencies seeking to usurp our civil rights, again in the name of “National Security”. This attempted expansion of provisions started under the Patriot Act is just an ill-concealed attempt at unrestrained surveillance of all citizens.
The history of unwarranted surveillance began with an allegedly innocuous tool called the stop or red light camera. Sold to us as a way to reduce traffic accidents caused by drivers running red lights, it did more to boost revenues for the communities installing the camera. Soon it evolved to using a camera triggered by a radar to snap front end photo of the driver and front license plate. The resulting “citation” would be mailed to the offender, with most paying the fine unchallenged.
I have vowed that I will not pay any automatically produced speed or stop light infraction that is not issued by a law enforcement officer having me sign a citation that he writes in my presence at the time of my alleged deed. Call me old fashioned, I don’t buy the crap that it is legal to send something in the mail for any alleged low crime. If I ever receive such a notice I will fight it. I urge all readers of the Daily Kos to do so as well. If every citizen were to stand up to such revenue generating schemes, we would run up the costs of enforcement & may be able to get actual police officers back doing what we hired them for.
I can understand the extensive use of cameras in private businesses to reduce shoplifting or to mitigate the danger of armed robberies. I do not object to this private use. I do object to having my daily activities recorded as I travel about in public doing my daily private endeavors. That is the latest invasion of electronic eavesdropping we have been burdened with. The newest iteration of this tool includes facial recognition software, making me wish I lived in Hollywood with access to quality disguises.
Some of this was entrenched prior to the Patriot Act; the later technology since that attack on our Constitutional rights. The actions of, the man I consider a hero of American conscience, Edward Snowden showed how pernicious the assaults on our liberty have been, continue being, and how naive we were to believe those servants of ours were or are acting in our best interests. These past 14 years have now brought us to the point where our servants are requesting more than just information, they are demanding collaboration by the manufacturers of products we buy.
Such a court order to produce something that defeats a product’s technolgy for “justice” is little more than forced labor and a denial of patent protections. The court was not just wrong, it was out of line with the concept of investigatory responsibility. It is up to the prosecution to develop it’s own tools, collect the evidence and present it. It has never been the responsibility of private corporations to make something from scratch without just compensation to serve the desire of any government agency, and companies have always had the right to decline participation in government bids or contracts.
Which brings us back to Tim Cook and Apple. I applaud Apple and Cook for telling the government, “No”! I do not use encryption software or Apple products, but if I wanted to or had need to, I would want it to be as secure as our own government tools and codes to secure national secrets. If it were a question of plugging it into a secret unit owned & operated by Apple to break the scramble order while cracking the key code, it would be one thing. The government doesn’t just desire that though, they want Apple to write software to crack it now and to create a backdoor for all future products. Such a software patch would then be available to any government for any reason, and would reduce the marketability of Apple goods based the loss of encryption.
This is more than a minor request by the court. It is a fundamental attack on privacy in that your Apple or my other device will be subject to unwarranted access, by any government around the world. My thoughts are private, my words to friends or family members are private and for the most part privileged communication, and only things I print or post for public consumption are available for all to see. Since my postings are limited to letters to the editor, the Daily Kos, and a choice few other websites, I expect anything else I may think to remain my own private thoughts.
It strikes me as odd that the people most vociferous in circumventing our civil rights, are the same people calling for smaller government. I do not trust Big Brother when it comes to my safety or freedom. I’ll look after me and mine better than any police officer ever will. While I can empathize with the desire to crack the San Bernardino shooter’s cell phone, it is the job of the investigators to do so, not the company who made the product. Holding Apple accountable for developing a backdoor to a product of theirs that “may” have been used in a criminal conspiracy is little different than making firearm manufacturers liable for the misuse of their products.
After years of choosing other manufacturer’s products, were I in the market today with the available funds, I would give first consideration to Apple in support of their stand against tyranny and spying. Tim Cook and Apple deserve our support in this fight for our civil rights; the same rights our “leaders” are trying so hard to deny us under the guise of “National Security”.