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Apple refuses to assist ED in unlocking Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's iPhone or provide access. Here's the reason
When interrogated, Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, asserted that if the ED could access his iPhone conversations and data, they would gain insight into AAP's 'election tactics' and prior election partnerships.
It has been reported that Apple has refused to unlock and provide the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with access to the iPhone of Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal. The tech major, headquartered in Cupertino, apparently stated that the data can only be accessed using the password established by the device's owner.
The Indian Express, citing unnamed sources, reported that in the Enforcement Directorate's nighttime raid coinciding with Kejriwal's apprehension on March 21, they only uncovered Rs 70,000 and four mobile devices, one of which belonged to the Chief Minister. Allegedly, the Delhi CM had turned off his iPhone and refused to disclose his passcode.
Why didn't Kejriwal provide his iPhone's password to the ED?
According to information received, Kejriwal stated during his interrogation that if the ED were to gain access to his mobile phone records and conversations, they would uncover details regarding AAP's "election strategy" and pre-election partnerships.
Apple's track record of refusing to unlock devices for the police
This isn't the initial instance of Apple declining to unlock a device when asked by a nation's investigative authorities.
In 2020, Apple declined to unlock the gadget of a certain Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who was a second lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force. Alshamrani was accused of killing three Americans at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The U.S. officials labeled this incident as an act of terrorism. The FBI requested Apple's assistance in unlocking the device and sharing its data to support their probe.
Apple, however, declined to unlock the device but supplied the investigative bodies with a plethora of information linked to Alshamrani. When additional requests were made, Apple furnished further details, encompassing the retrievable data from iCloud backups, account details, and transactional records for several accounts.
Likewise, in 2016, a US federal judge requested Apple's help to unlock the iPhones of two individuals, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, suspected of the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack.
The court demanded Apple to furnish "practical technical support" to the law enforcement agencies and devise a method to bypass Apple's feature which locks the phone after 10 failed password tries, making the device's data unreachable. However, Apple, in this case too, refused to assist the FBI.
Why does Apple decline to unlock devices for police agencies?
Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, has consistently upheld the firm's decision to reject such demands, emphasizing not only Apple's pledge to protect its users' confidentiality, but also its commitment to preserving civil freedoms.
The situation (pertaining to Farook's case) encompasses more than just one phone or one probe, so when the government's mandate came to us, we felt compelled to voice our concerns," Cook communicated to staff members via email. Cook, along with Apple's other leaders, have consistently made efforts to clarify that supporting encryption does not equate to facilitating illegal activities or endorsing terrorism.
Cook also emphasized that while Apple has "zero tolerance or empathy for terrorists," adhering to the Department of Justice's demands could establish a hazardous standard.
The data privacy of hundreds of millions of innocent people is at risk, and establishing such a risky precedent could endanger everyone's civil rights," Cook stated in his email.
Apple maintains the stance that creating a loophole in their device encryption for use by authorities, such as police and other law enforcement agencies, could potentially be misused by cybercriminals, hackers, and other unscrupulous entities.
The Senior Director of Global Privacy at Apple, Jane Horvath, publicly stated that "end-to-end encryption is vital for the services we depend on." In addition, Horvath asserted that "creating a secret access to encryption is not how we're going to address the problem of investigating terrorists."
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