France could take the decision to fine the Apple company with 1 million euros each every time he refuses to unlock an iPhone at the request of the police or other government agencies, fines of this kind will also be applied against Google or other manufacturers of mobile terminals.
At the moment there is no legislation to be able to fine Apple or other IT companies for refusing to unlock smartphones at the request of the authorities, but a French parliamentarian wants to introduce an amendment to the current legislation that will make this procedure possible.
Based on the proposal he intends to make, every IT company will be fined 1 million euros every time it refuses to unlock a smartphone or tablet, or refuses to provide other data from the devices even though it has the ability to do so thing.
In 2015, only 8 smartphones could not be accessed by the French authorities to retrieve data from them, and although the number is small, there could be enough support for the adoption of the amendment, especially the French still have vivid memories of the terrorist attacks from the end last year.
The fight that Apple is having with the FBI in the USA now has ramifications outside the country, and apart from France, other important countries of the world could put pressure on those in Cupertino or on Google to compromise the security of smartphones or tablets sold in the world the whole
What will happen remains to be seen, but it is clear that Apple will have to fight on many fronts to get what it wants.
