In a GW University Seminar on Internet Freedom and Governance, CSPRI hosted experts in law, policy and academia to discuss the implications of the ongoing Apple v. FBI battle over iPhone encryption. On one hand, speakers weighed the risks of safeguarding data privacy and creating national security blind-spots. On the other, experts discussed the effects of the FBI infringing upon constitutional rights and paving a way for hackers to access and possibly control citizens' devices. Would allowing the FBI to crack the encryption of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone really just a one-time exception or would it open up Pandora's box? Is the constitution able to handle this type of question or is a new law (or even a Constitutional Amendment) needed? Watch the seminar panel below featuring:
Amitai Etzioni (GW Professor and Director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies), Paul Rosenzweig (Professional Lecturer in Law, GW Law), Ari Schwartz (Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services, Venable LLP, and Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Cybersecurity at the Whitehouse) and Lance J. Hoffman (CSPRI Co-Director, GW Lecturer and Distinguished Research Professor of Computer Science).
UPDATE: The next day, the Christian Science Monitor Passcode reported that the FBI claimed to be working with an anonymous "third party" to gain access to the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. Sources identified Cellebrite, a major player in the growing mobile forensics market, as the FBI's key to unlocking Apple devices. Will this new development cool off a growing debate between the tech community and the US government?