If you follow the news you will no doubt have read about the FBI & Apple spat that is currently happening. I don’t need to go into the technical details as thousands of words have been written about it elsewhere on the internet.
There is something that does strike me as being rather odd – Microsft, Google & all Android handset manufacturers (Samsung, LG etc) have been very quiet about the whole subject. This stood out to me as none of these companies are the quiet type & would usually jump at any opportunity to do some “Apple bashing”.
I have come up with 2 possible reasons why they may all be biting their tongues:
It is too late…
Personal & private information has already been given to the FBI (or any law enforcement agency) via the means of a backdoor or some other method which will allow it to be easily obtained again in the future from other devices. No company wants this to become public knowledge so don’t want to attract any attention.
It is too easy…
Gaining access to personal & private information on a Microsoft or Android device may be so easy that the manufacturer does not even need to be asked for help. The law enforcement agencies can do it already and nobody even knows.
I suspect both of the above are true in part. Either way, if I were an Android or Microsoft device user I would be very cautious about putting any private informationĀ on it. It isn’t the law enforcement agencies I am concerned about – if history is anything to go by it will not be long before their methods are in the public domain for anyone with malicious intent to make use of.