Trump Thrashes Apple For Refusing To Unlock iPhones Of “Criminals”
US President Donald Trump has accused Apple of not helping the US Department of Justice in unlocking the iPhones of criminals. Trump shared his opinion via a tweet by saying that Apple is not cooperating in unlocking two phones, including the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 7 Plus. Both iPhones are related to the shooting incident which took place at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida.
Donald Trump said in his tweet that US Government has always helped Apple in trade and many other issues but the company still refuses to unlock the iPhones that are used by notorious people like drug dealers, killers, and smugglers.
Trump concluded the tweet by saying that Apple needs to take steps to help the great country and wrote a slogan in bold that says: “NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements. They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2020
Apple on Donald Trump’s Accusations
Apple has cleared out its part on the matter by saying that they started assisting the FBI as soon as the company got to know that their help is necessary. Apple also said that the company has shared a large amount of information contained in the iPhones related to the Pensacola shooting incident.
The company said in their defense that just 8 days ago, the FBI asked for more information regarding the iPhones. Until then, the agency was satisfied by the amount of information shared by Apple.
Previously, in 2016, Apple had made its point that it wouldn’t be unlocking the iPhones straightaway, and the company can only help in sharing the information stored on the devices. Apple refused to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernadino shooting incident.
It turned out to be a legal fight between the Federal government and Apple, in which the company won the case as the government previously used a third-party tool to unlock the iPhone.
US Attorney General William Barr has also said that Apple has failed to provide appropriate assistance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in unlocking both iPhones that belong to Saudi Military Trainee Mohammed Alshamrani. In an open fire by Alshamrani, three American sailors were killed and around 8 people were brutally injured.
