Apple Walks a Thin Line on User Privacy While Dealing With China

Apple has found itself in a funny spot by refusing the FBI’s request to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. While Apple is making a show in the United States about respecting user privacy, the company has closely cooperated with Chinese authorities on similar issues, and the refusal to cooperate with the FBI may itself be with an eye toward the China market.

A protester holds up an iPhone that reads "No Entry" outside of the the Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York City on Feb. 23. While Apple claims to support user privacy in the United States, it has cooperated closely with authorities in China. Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

News Analysis

Apple has found itself in a funny spot by refusing the FBI’s request to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. While Apple is making a show in the United States about respecting user privacy, the company has closely cooperated with Chinese authorities on similar issues, and the refusal to cooperate with the FBI may itself be with an eye toward the China market.

A New York judge ruled in Apple’s favor on Feb. 29 that the company is not required to help investigators by unlocking the iPhone 5C of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook who, alongside his wife, murdered 14 people in a Dec. 2, 2015, terrorist attack.

The debate won’t end there, however, as Apple is still fighting a California judge’s order to create specialized software that will help the FBI crack the phone’s encryption.

The case may actually not be as simple as it appears on the surface. Regardless of how Apple has conducted itself in China, it could be forced in the United States to create a system that would further undermine user privacy elsewhere.

Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute and a strong critic of the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses, said in a phone interview that he is siding with Apple on this point.

What happens when the analyst who created the backdoor gets recruited by China for a million dollars a year?

— Steven Mosher, president, Population Research Institute