Last night representatives of Apple, FBI and US government officials testified before a US Congressional committee to support their case for protecting iOS security and unlocking iPhones to protect US national security.
The entire meeting lasted no less than 5 hours and during this time many things were said on each side, Bruce Sewell, the head of Apple's legal department, stating that the whole world is following the dispute between Apple and the FBI, which will have serious ramifications all around the world.
Sewell stated that a possible victory of the FBI in this battle could be a dangerous precedent, something also recognized by the director of the FBI, for unlocking iPhones, and separately the US and other countries could demand the same from the Apple company, and then no one would have the safe data anymore.
For now, Apple would not have received requests from other countries similar to those made by the FBI, but if in the US the government agency will be able to force Apple to unlock iPhones, then other countries will force it to do the same, and then not even the data of Americans from abroad will not be safe.
I think the world is watching what happens in our government right now and what happens right now with this particular debate. Our ability to maintain a consistent position around the world, our ability to say we will not compromise the safety and security of any of our users around the world, is substantially weakened if we are forced to make that compromise here in our own country.
The whole meeting was practically a presentation of contradictory points of view with various more or less subtle attacks from each side, various information being revealed for the first time by the Apple company regarding the collaboration with the authorities in many areas of the planet to offer data from iPhone terminals.
Before concluding, it is worth mentioning the fact that during the session Bruce Sewell had an unusual problem with the iPad tablet he used, it got stuck in the middle of the speech read by him, forcing the Apple representative to use the documentation that he he had brought with him to continue his speech.
In the video clip below you can watch the entire meeting.
