Dive Brief:
- On Monday, Apple called on the federal government to create a panel addressing encryption.
- The request came as the federal government and Apple continue their standoff over Apple’s refusal to create what the company calls a "backdoor" into the iPhone operating system to help with the ongoing investigation into one of the San Bernardino attackers.
- Industry leaders and civil servants have jumped to take sides in the debate. One politican is looking to craft legislation around the encryption debate. On the other side of the debate, industry leaders like Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg have come out in support of Apple.
Dive Insight:
The battle over encryption is starting to become a battle between Silixon Valley and federal authorities, with tech giants imploring that encryption is aboslutely necessary to preserve privacy rights. In addition to Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter have also voiced support for Apple on the issue.
"I don’t think requiring backdoors with encryption is either going to be an effective way to increase security or is really the right thing to do for just the direction that the world is going to," Zuckerberg said on stage at Mobile World Congress. "We’re sympathetic with Apple. We believe in encryption; we think that that’s an important tool."
FBI Director James Comey says the case is simply about "victims and justice" and is not meant to create a precendent that would force companies to create a backdoor in their encryption. The government is currently recruiting victims of the shooting to join its case against Apple.
