The Great Apple Controversy. Is it really a huge problem for American citizens?

In the article, “The Great Apple Controversy,” the author is addressing the people involved or in support of the burgeoning related protest movement. This is a group of people who feel that the government accessing Apple phone data in order to gain an advantage against terrorist investigations is not right. They feel that if the government does this, it is a violation of everyone’s privacy. The author embeds sources from technologyreview.com and abc7chicago.com in order to show the reader the facts that he is commenting about. He is in complete bewilderment, as he states, “I truly do not understand what people are so afraid of.” Understandably, device security is used to protect from theft of property, but the government already knows your Social Security number, home, related account number, etc. All of this was present long before the digital age. The author further explains that the government does not need digital devices to steal money, for they can just pass a law. After this fact, he comes to the conclusion that people are mainly concerned with hiding their embarrassing information. The author fires against the people’s reasoning by saying “I am deeply concerned about a culture that is apparently very actively involved in doing things they do not want anyone else to know about, yet making records of it.”

I agree completely with the author. If the government is justifiably attempting to fight against terrorism by using the utilities of a company that started in America, there is not dramatic harm to citizens. Based off of my understanding from reading the article, while awful acts of terrorism are occurring, people are selfishly and ignorantly more concerned about their own privacy. I absolutely love how the author pointed out that the government knows everything about their citizens in regards to money anyways. He also destroys the people’s reasoning by stating that they should not make records of their secrets if it is valued of high importance. I could not agree more. If the government was committing the act in order to restrict American citizens from their freedoms, then there would be concern, but they are trying to do something good for the safety of America. Technically, Apple could invade anyone's privacy if they chose to do so. I love how the author ends off the article by saying, “it makes me concerned not only about the moral compass of the nation, but its general intelligence.” People need to start looking at all aspects of the situation before they start protesting and making accusations.