Now comes the Federal government, using the arcane All Writs Act of 1789, to try to force Apple to provide a backdoor to the iPhone. The government is demanding Apple disable the password protection feature which erases the phone after 10 failed password attempts. Although Apple has provided generous assistance to prosecutors in the past, this time its CEO, Tim Cook, is rejecting search warrants.

This case does not involve just one iPhone, but all such phones, because once the security of the iPhone is defeated, encryption is demolished, everyone becomes a suspect, everyone’s privacy , the security of everyone’s information is compromised. Anti-democratic regimes abroad will increase telephone surveillance and political dissidents will be endangered.