Forcing Apple to break into an iPhone used by a terrorist suspect could have serious implications for free speech, a United Nations official has warned.
David Kaye, the UN’s special freedom of expression reporter, said that encryption and other privacy technologies used by Apple were essential to protect free speech in the digital age.
The FBI wants Apple to help it break into an iPhone owned by Syed Farook, a gunman linked to Islamic State who was involved in the San Bernardino mass shooting. Apple is challenging a court order by the FBI compelling it to provide reasonable assistance to the agency.
Mr Kaye said: “My concern is that the [order] implicates the security, and thus the freedom of expression, of unknown but likely vast numbers of people. This is fundamentally a problem of technology, one where compromising security for one and only one time and purpose seems exceedingly difficult if not impossible.”
He claimed that the implications for the freedom of expression were potentially serious.