The battle between FBI and Apple have come a long way and is being watched closely by many, especially tech companies. The likes of Google, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and other social media platforms are making their applications "more secure" as they are all being alarmed of the ongoing public feud.
Aside from the stated corporations, Amazon, Microsoft and other businesses are expressing their all-out support to Apple, according to BGR. In fact, Facebook-owned company WhatsApp already blocked the FBI's attempt to carry out a wiretap order on the service.
WhatsApp, the cross-platform mobile messaging application bought by Facebook in 2014, is now adding an end-to-end encryption to its system. This is to allow the users have their privacy by letting them receive their phone calls and messages securely even if a judge permits FBI to wiretap.
A nonprofit group Electronic Frontier Foundation chief computer scientist, Peter Eckersley, said that the FBI and Justice Department are trying to pick a perfect situation to choose a battle that best suits them. "They're waiting for the case that makes the demand look reasonable," he said per Vanity Fair.
The founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, tackled the significance of confidentiality, especially to his own family after they migrated to the United States from Ukraine. Jan Koum now fears their personal privacy in the loom of the government wiretapping.
However, there are some who are in favor of the government's wiretapping move, saying that social communication platforms like WhatsApp should follow and submit the "encrypted information" when needed. Ex-federal prosecutor Joseph DeMarco explained that the application of "advanced encryption" could help criminals thrive.
Meanwhile, these companies are trying their very best to save their users' privacy from the planned FBI wiretapping, BGR reports. Hence, even if the FBI got the permission to break in any smartphones of any brand, the feds might have a hard time to get the private information they need from the applications.
