Apple, the biggest technology company in America, is feuding with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The legal battle between Apple and the government has brought a dispute over national security versus informational privacy.

Remember the San Bernardino terrorist attack that happened back in December? One of the attacker’s iPhones had been found, and the government wanted Apple to create a new software. This would have let them get into the phone by allowing them to guess the password an infinite number of times. The FBI wanted access to encrypt the valuable information because they believed there are contacts and messages that have ties to ISIS. The only problem was that Apple denied the request because it said what the FBI was asking for violated their First Amendment.

The phone company said that the FBI was looking for “dangerous power.” Once FBI hackers got one iPhone, they’ll know how to get in every other phone. Apple motioned to deny the request, but now it does not matter. The government said that the app is like a one time thing and will not be used again. A lawyer for Apple argued that, “The government says: ‘Just this once’ and ‘Just this one phone.’ But the government knows those statements are not true.”

This new software is to be developed and could affect Apple and their consumers. In the case that someone were to lose their property, an individual could guess the passcode an infinite amount of times. This hack could put the owner’s security at risk because it would become easier for someone to access any important and valuable information and lead to more problems.

Months later, the FBI has come to a successful conclusion with the case. It announced that the iPhone can be hacked into without the help of Apple. As of now, consumers still don’t know how the FBI hackers were able to break the encryption on their phone. The government announced that help from a third party was used as part of the investigation, but declined to reveal more details.

– Jackie Almarez and Yuan Lin