Apple and Google Trying To Keep Your Personal Data Safe From Government

The companies are a part of the 140 tech companies that co-signed a letter calling on President Barack Obama to reject any proposal regarding backdoor access  

Today Google and Apple became the co-signers to a letter sent to President Obama, in which both the companies called on the president to veto any incoming proposal from the government that forces consumer electronics manufacturers to give the government backdoor access to files and calling data on encrypted phones and similar devices.

According to the Washington Post, the letter in question has the backing of over 140 tech companies, civil society groups, and key tech-related figures from the industry and is scheduled to be delivered today.

The signatories urge Mr. Obama to follow the group’s unanimous recommendation that the government should “fully support and not undermine efforts to create encryption standards” and not “in any way subvert, undermine, weaken or make vulnerable” commercial software.

 

Apple previously circumvented the government's request for data by enabling end-to-end encryption in its iMessage messaging service, thereby, even locking itself out from accessing the content of the messages, meaning the company will be unable to comply if the government presents it with a court order, forcing it to reveal the data. Last year, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said about the service: “It’s encrypted, and we don’t have the key.”

Tech companies have been facing increasing pressure from the FBI to grant law-enforcement authorities backdoor access through the respective companies’ phone and gadget encryption systems, even saying that Apple's refusal to give access may even be the cause for a child’s death. US Attorney General, Eric Holder, also made use of the issue of child safety to hammer in his opinion as to why backdoor access should be provided.

The letter, which singles out Mr.Obama to refute the issue raised by the FBI has been co-signed by the five members of the government too; from a review group assigned by the President in 2013 to take a closer look at policies that pertain to technology in order to avoid another Edward Snowden catastrophe from happening.

Along with the primary concern that this move can potentially eradicate the concept of privacy from the government for its citizens, quite a few tech companies have pointed out that if the backdoor is created for the government, many foreign hackers and governments could easily exploit the backdoor if they discover it, leaving all the phones in the country prone to hacking.