In 2015, Apple debuted the iPhone 6S, which employed a default encryption system preventing both Apple and government authorities from accessing data stored on the device. Then, in 2016, a federal judge ordered Apple to provide technical assistance to unlock the iPhone used by one of the mass shooters in San Bernardino, California. Apple refused to comply.
Years later, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, Apple and Google partnered to develop a contact tracing application that would collect information about users infected with the disease and notify those who they had been in contact with. The app would keep information about infection and contact private, but some governments wanted more access. When Apple and Google declined to provide this information, they sparked a debate about the companies’ responsibilities for their customers’ personal privacy versus public health.
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