Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates is finding it difficult to choose a side between government and Apple in San Bernardino iPhone case. He suggested both the Apple and government should come together and develop an understanding to find the solution.
Bill Gates was on Reddit yesterday with his regular AMA session where he avoided questions regarding the Apple-FBI high profile case. He said, the government does require help in the fight against terrorism, but also cited threat to user privacy by creating such a backdoor.
“I think there needs to be a discussion about when the government should be able to gather information. What if we had never had wiretapping? Also the government needs to talk openly about safeguards. Right now a lot of people don’t think the government has the right checks to make sure information is only used in criminal situations. So this case will be viewed as the start of a discussion,” he said.
“I think very few people take the extreme view that the government should be blind to financial and communication data but very few people think giving the government carte blanche without safeguards makes sense. A lot of countries like the UK and France are also going through this debate. For tech companies there needs to be some consistency including how governments work with each other. The sooner we modernize the laws the better.”
Basically, Gates emphasized on creating a balance where authorities can work together with tech companies for national security is absolutely needed.
“What would you do if you were Apple?”
When someone on the Reddit asked about his action when placed in Apple shoes, Gates evaded the question with a vague answer, without siding with any of the parties involved.
Gates said, “Maybe they could propose an overall plan for striking the balance between government being able to know things in some cases and having safeguards to make sure those powers are confined to appropriate cases. There is no avoiding this debate and they could contribute to how the balance should be struck”
Earlier, A Judge in California court has ordered Apple to co-operate with FBI and develop a software that would help to unlock the terrorist’s phone involved in the December 2015 attacks. Since then, Apple is opposing the decision such a software would destroy users privacy and pose more risks for the country as a whole.