This Tuesday, Apple, posted a statement headed, “A message to our customers,” on the homepage of their website in which the trillion-dollar organization addressed a firm stance on their behalf in regard to a demand by the United States government.

The beginning of the statement explains, “The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.”

The statement voiced by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, initially addresses the wealth of information and data stored on smartphones, and the importance of encryption to protect this data. Cook goes on to say that even the company itself takes a hands-off approach to customer data, protecting smartphone users’ information fully.

Apple CEO Tim Cook

The letter then addresses the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack in which 14 were killed and 22 were seriously injured in Bernardino, California.

The FBI reached out to Apple for assistance in solving the crime, and Apple initially complied by providing data that the company could access (typically things such as phone records). However, in the statement, Apple makes it clear that the FBI explicitly asked the company to develop a software that could destroy the safety, privacy, and lives of smartphone users world-wide.

“They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone,” Cook said in the statement.

This “backdoor” would bypass all security measures that the iPhone has to protect users, essentially allowing any phone to be unlocked and accessed with the tool. Though the FBI told Apple the tool would be limited to the crime solving in the San Bernardino case and solely for the pursuit of solving an act of terrorism, Apple believes that creating a tool such as this could become a serious weapon in the wrong hands.

“Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices,” Cook said.

Apple noted in the statement that no other company has ever been asked to breach the security of their customers or put them at risk in a way such as this. This would be violating the innate company-client trust Apple has worked hard to build.

“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cyber-criminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.”

So, what does this mean for you?

A few things are addressed in the letter that Apple users need to understand:

1. The FBI wants to apply the All Writs Act of 1789.
This essentially allows the US Federal Courts to use any means they see necessary and appropriate to reach and end that they find an absence of other alternatives too.

2. The government could use this expansion of power to further demand that your entire life through your smartphone could be under surveillance.

3. The government could access all records, such as those health related, your financial data, and they could even track your location.

4. The government could access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge, openly spying on you in your daily life.
The fear you've always had but ignored, right? It could very soon be a reality if the FBI receives the Federal court's grace in regard to this expansion of their power.

5. Remember, once it's created, anyone could use it.
Sure, this information may not be incredibly detrimental to iPhone user's lives if the government had access to it, but what happens when the tool does fall into cybercriminal's hands? Someone can track your every movement, right down to your breathing when you sleep. That's something to think about.

Yes, while the FBI's ultimate goal is to end terrorism for the protection of the nation, a tool that has great potential to further endanger citizens is not the route to take. There are boundaries set forth by the checks and balances of our democratic system that should not be destroyed on behalf of the government. Never should the people in a democratic society fear the power of those they vote into office. Never should our rights be violated by the government in such a way that safety becomes a luxury in day-to-day life. Those aren't the moral principles this country was founded on.

“While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”