Posted by Natasha Dizon.
Today, technology is very advanced with data that can be accessed and tampered with and though a simple passcode or a touch of a finger, your phone can be opened. Smartphones are something that everyone has these days. iPhones have iOS 8 and it can be hacked into through “backdoors.”
Recently, Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik are two residents of California who are being investigated by the FBI. They are suspects for being in contact with the Islamic State. They are also suspects in assisting the shooting that took the lives of 14 innocent people and injuring 22 others. Farook was suspected of using his iPhone 5C to get in contact with other terrorists. Therefore, investigators want to tap into his phone, and unlock the data. The couple died in a shootout with the police. The FBI believes that they were part of terrorism.
In my opinion, yes I think that it is wrong to hack someone’s phone without their permission. Apple has a point where if they do it for them, the company would be pressured or expected to do the same for everyone. By doing that, the whole protection and lock screen code would be completely pointless. But in this certain circumstance, I would agree that the phone should be unlocked only because the lives of millions of people are in danger. If the people are being suspected of murder and terrorism, the right of privacy should not an option.
Natasha is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.