"Apple Always Helped"…Trump Criticizes 'iPhone Unlock Refusal'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] U.S. President Donald Trump publicly criticized Apple for not cooperating in the investigation of the recent Florida shooting incident.

On the 14th (local time), President Trump tweeted, "We have always helped Apple on trade and many other issues," adding, "But Apple refuses to unlock iPhones used in murder, drug trafficking, and other violent crimes."

He continued, "They helped make America great, and they must help make America great again."

Earlier, on the 6th of last month, Second Lieutenant Muhammad Alshamrani, a trainee from Saudi Arabia, opened fire at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida, killing three and seriously injuring eight. He was shot dead at the scene, but the FBI is investigating the motive and whether there was any conspiracy. During this process, the FBI requested the unlocking of two iPhones used by the perpetrator.

Apple stated, "We can provide sufficient information that is synced to iCloud and publicly available, but we cannot accept requests to open a 'backdoor' to customer information," maintaining its existing position that "we respect law enforcement and will cooperate sincerely with investigations."

Apple provides users' backup data stored in its cloud storage service iCloud when ordered by a court, but if the user-set device password cannot be unlocked, the company cannot access this data. Because of this, investigative authorities such as the FBI are demanding the provision of an 'iOS backdoor' to bypass this. Apple has refused due to privacy infringement concerns.

U.S. CNBC reported that this signals "a future clash between the government and IT companies."

The confrontation between the FBI and Apple is not the first. The debate over "national security vs. personal privacy" dates back to 2015. When a shooting terror incident in San Bernardino, California, resulted in 14 deaths, the FBI requested Apple to unlock the iPhone used by the terrorist. However, Apple refused, citing privacy infringement, sparking the controversy.

Later, in 2017, an Australian court ordered the provision of information on child sex offenders, and after a church shooting incident in Texas the same year, U.S. national agencies requested Apple's cooperation to unlock the suspect's iPhone. However, Apple has never allowed a 'backdoor' even once.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.