Apple is Right

        In the showdown between Apple and the FBI, the slippery slope of decoding one encrypted phone is taking center place. Apple insists that by writing the code to get the data out of one terrorist’s phone, ALL phones will be put in danger. The FBI insists it is just ONE phone and that security for the entire public demands it.

        This has triggered the debate between individual liberties versus the safety of society as a whole. Some argue that any freedom lost is too high a price to pay for personal security, while others argue that if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide and the danger from terrorists is greater than any privacy you might lose. But I believe there is an additional component to this dispute that is just as troubling: requiring private individual’s labor to create criminal evidence.

        Since create and fabricate are synonyms, let’s be clear that I am not talking about manufacturing false or fake evidence. I am also not talking about gathering existing evidence. It is not uncommon for a court to order a firm to turn over records to a party in a court proceeding. In this case, of course, there will be private individuals making copies, boxing up and delivering the requested material to demanding party. This is merely gathering evidence, a task that can be completed by anyone.

        Now specific civilians do work for law enforcement. Obviously, there are forensic technicians, clerical workers, dispatchers, etc., that are not sworn officers who do specific work for their department. And many mundane services can be contracted out like janitorial, vehicle maintenance, etc. One might argue that what is being demanded of Apple is no different than a civilian getting wired and doing something undercover. But, even in that case, it is often someone trading their cooperation for consideration for their own misbehavior and they have a choice to not cooperate and face the consequences.

        What Apple is being asked to do is far different. To comply with the FBI demand, Apple must require its employees, who have done nothing wrong and are not part of any criminal activity, to create a product (the decryption code) from their own skill set. This puts both the employer and the employee in a very difficult position. Does the employee have a right to refuse the work order for law enforcement? If an employee were being asked questions, they would have a right to an attorney and to refuse to answer. But can they be forced to do actual work? Can the employer force the employee to complete the work or be fired? Would the employer be exposed to an employee lawsuit? Would the employee be compensated if the employer is not?

        What of the precedent? The phone security for all phones is the first consideration in the slippery slope argument, but what of requiring labor? Suppose next time it is not a decryption code, but something genetically grown to help the FBI? A medical procedure? An Implant? What about just general labor for the common good? Not a paid CCC like during the depression, but a military style draft for anything and everything the government needed.

        Far-fetched? Most slippery slope arguments do take it to the extreme example for the biggest impact. And, in our capitalistic market society, the pressure to prevent the loss of all private government contracts would certainly be a prohibitive factor in such a scenario. But, imagine a very small, specialized business that produces something the FBI or some other agency finds itself needing in a modified form. Would they have the resources to fight an order in court? Would they survive a customer revolt because of the cooperation or non-cooperation? Probably not.

        Apple is a multi-billion dollar company with the resources to fight the government on this issue. Their fight is about more than just the security of the device we carry in our pocket, but what we do with our very lives. For all of us, they must win.