Apple vs FBI Case: Explaining Ethical Issues In ICT (Case Study Sample)

Apple vs. FBI
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ABSTRACT
This paper addresses issues of ethics in ICT in the Apple vs. FBI case. A very thin line borders between obligation and responsibility and this paper seeks to harmonize this through research conducted and at the end give recommendations on how to differentiate the two.
Introduction
Cyber security or computer security according to Wikipedia is “the protection of information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and to the information on them, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.” In the case Apple Vs. FBI, the FBI wanted Apple to extract data from an iPhone 5C recovered from one of the December 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attackers. locked with a four-digit passcode, Apple declined to do so and a hearing was scheduled. The case was later dismissed after the FBI announced they had found a third party to assist in unlocking the phone. From the above incident the question of cyber security is challenged. Ethical issues challenged by the above case include privacy and cyber-crime.
This paper will discuss the ethical issues mentioned above and show how other incidents have been tackled in the ICT sector before and help answer the case study.
Privacy
Privacy according to Wikipedia is “the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves, or information about themselves, and therefore express themselves selectively.” By purchasing an Apple phone the rights and ownership are transferred to the buyer. In this case, information in the phone is private and password and code encryption developed by the manufacturer are secondary ways to ensure protection of such information. If therefore this information is private software’s developed to retrieve such information violate ones right to privacy.
Apple has a strong reputation in the security space. Ensuring customer information security should be every developers and manufacturers goal. Until the above situation arose Apple IPhone were considered uncrack able and consumers were confortable with purchasing them, not saying sales will reduce, no. The bone of contention here is, at what point should privacy be violated? By apple refusing to create software to retract data from the suspects phone, it acted within ethical grounds under the Deontological class of ethical theories which states CITATION cho13 \l 1033 (chonko, 2013),| “people should adhere to their obligations and duties when engaged in decision making when ethics are in play.” Apple followed their obligation to the individual because their duty is what is considered ethically correct. Therefore Apple was not protecting the terror suspect but rather the customer. If Apple would have accepted to create such a software which bypasses security barriers like passwords, there would exist the question as to whether they monitor customer information and also such software would find its way into the market allowing the population to purchase and abuse it as such.
Recommendation
The use of clouds where one uploads information to an internet storage space offered by various proprietary bodies should be used as a way of storing information in case of misplacement, theft or damage of electronic equipment. This acts as back up and can be retrieved through other devices at ones convenience. In such a case, whether there existed software to bypass phone security, the FBI would not benefit from the hacking of the phone since no information would have been stored in the phone. An example of this iCloud which is CITATION Aja14 \l 1033 (Sharma, 2014) “is a service to allow applications to store data on Apple’s servers and have it synchronized across all devices used by the same person (via their Apple ID).”
Government bodies should use other ways of retrieving information which are ethical because this sets precedence for other criminal activities. Prevention of such occurrences such as that in San Bernardino should require better intelligence collection including added security man power and surveillance using ICT software and street cameras.
Cyber-crime
Cyber-crime according to techopedia is ‘a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming).” When Apple refused to build software to crack the suspects phone the FBI looked for a third party who could deliver on this. Though they are yet to announce on who they contracted, the action in itself is a form of cyber-crime because they accessed someone’s phone without permission which is called hacking. Under the ethical theories this fall under utilitarianism, mainly act utilitarianism. Here CITATION cho13 \l 1033 (chonko, 2013), “a person performs the acts that benefits most people, regar...