The advance of digital technology is creating new ethical challenges across society, and here we go again in the battle between law enforcement and the privacy of encrypted cell phones in a democracy. Attorney General William Barr demanded Monday that Apple help the U.S. government unlock two iPhones in its terror investigation of the Saudi air cadet who last month killed three sailors at a Navy training base in Pensacola, Florida. "This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that the public be able to get access to digital evidence," Mr. Barr said.
The AG's implication is that Apple is withholding information critical to a government terror investigation. But then the FBI also boasted on Monday that it has been able to obtain many leads from other sources including social media, interviews and 42 terabytes of digital media.
Apple continues to cooperate, but what it won't do is create special software to break into an iPhone so the FBI can obtain information stored on the device. Nor will it devise a "backdoor" for law enforcement. Mr. Barr says this refusal means that Apple and other American tech companies are subordinating national security to commercial interests by refusing to assist law enforcement.
