Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he's supporting Apple in its current clash with the FBI. The federal agency is currently ordering Apple to "disable the security software on a dead murderer's iPhone," reports BBC.
However, the iPhone-makers have refused to do so, claiming that it could pave the way for possible dangers with regard to consumers' privacy. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, claims that government authorities should not have backdoors to get through encryption protection.
"We're sympathetic with Apple. We believe in encryption; we think that that's an important tool,"Mark Zuckerberg said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain via USA Today. "I don't think that requiring back doors to encryption is either going to be an effective thing to increase security or is really the right thing to do."
Mark Zuckerberg backs #Apple in encryption debate https://t.co/FNdnzF3xdu pic.twitter.com/VWxeRYrewd
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2016
Zuckerberg also highlighted the sensitivity of his own company when it comes to tech companies' encryption softwares. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook has a "pretty big responsibility" as well, in helping to "prevent terrorism and different kinds of attacks."
"If there is any content that is promoting terrorism or sympathizing with ISIS we'll take that off the service," Zuckerberg said in an interview with Jessi Hempel.
He continued, "We don't want people doing that kind of stuff on Facebook. If we have opportunities to basically work with governments and folks to make sure that there aren't terrorist attacks then we're going to take those opportunities and we feel a pretty strong responsibility to help make sure that society is safe."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was the first head of a major tech company to support Apple in its ongoing battle with the FBI over the backdoor issue. In a series of tweets, Sundar Pichai said, "Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users' privacy."
1/5 Important post by @tim_cook. Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users’ privacy — sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
2/5 We know that law enforcement and intelligence agencies face significant challenges in protecting the public against crime and terrorism — sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
3/5 We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
4/5 But that’s wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices & data. Could be a troubling precedent — sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) February 17, 2016
