How limited has our privacy become?

The privacy of citizens in America has become very limited over time due to terrorist attacks such as what happened on September 11th, 2001. The American government has been limiting certain rights and going through other measures to insure the safety of American citizens by preventing any other attacks. But how far is the government willing to go in order to insure safety?

There are many ways in which the government is undermining our rights of privacy. For example, the NSA suspected of spying on American citizens, and many other things. But despite what has already been happening, there is a new phenomenon; Apple vs. FBI. Apple has been fighting against the FBI ever since the San Bernardino shooting. One of the shooters had an iPhone which was later recovered by authorities. The authorities want to bypass the code on the phone in order to search the information it occupied to see if the shooter has been planning it. Apple received a court order in which the court is ordering the company to "bypass or disable" a feature that automatically wipes an iPhone clean of all its data after 10 incorrect password attempts have been entered . A hearing for this case is scheduled for march 22nd, 2016. Many people would think the government is asking for too much by ordering Apple to do such a thing.

When the government asks for help that gives them more information on a specific event, most companies/organization comply with their request, such as apple has before. But now, the government is asking for something big, basically a " Backdoor" to the iPhone. Apple doesn't believe such a system exists, but technologists believe it can be done. Although the government just wants to be able to be ahead of the bad guys and prevent more attacks from happening, creating a system that allows them to bypass restrictions could have its positive and negative effects. Positively, it could allow the government to keep up with terrorist plans to attack or be able to view anything that may be a threat. Negatively, citizens will not like the idea of the government collecting all of their personal data and may lead to the downfall of the company. Although it's only wanted for the one phone acquired from the shooting, a whole system must be created. With that having to happen, there is a fear that the system will not only be used for that. And that the government would use it to their advantage with years to come to unlock any other phone of their desire with this software.

This cartoon displays what the FBI is aiming for, Being able to decipher an iPhone code when wanted in order to collect data. (http://www.englishblog.com/2016/02/cartoon-apple-vs-the-fbi.html#.VuwecNIwjcs)

The Popular iPhone would become literally an " Eye phone " if apple were forced to do this, Since the government would be watching over everything. (http://blogs.denverpost.com/opinion-cartoons/2016/02/24/cartoons-of-the-day-apple-vs-the-fbi/45350/)

This is how most American citizens with an iPhone would feel towards this happening. There is a great probability that the customers of apple would abandon their technology if Apple would have to follow through with this order. (https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=899&q=apple+vs+fbi&oq=apple+vs+fbi&gs_l=img.3..0l8.870.2134.0.2290.12.10.0.2.2.0.99.541.10.10.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.12.547.MqUtFjgslYY#imgrc=Cy5vZTk7qjD2QM%3A)

In " The Crucible" we see many events in which people's privacy is being invaded. With the hunt for witches, people who were accused were invaded of their privacy in search of evidence such as " Poppets " or other items that could be considered practices of witchcraft. But being accused of it is very easy, many people in the book were going through it, being accused for the slightest reasons. This relates to the U.S government with this event with Apple, They want to create a system in which they'll be able to search through a phone and get all of its data without ones acknowledgement. Even if they say it's only for one phone, no such system that could cause a variety of outcomes should be trusted in another's hands. It could be used to one's advantage later on.

The right to privacy for American citizens should not be undermined since it is accounted for in the amendments/bill of rights, which limits the government from having power over citizens on certain rights. Orders such as the government ordering Apple to create a backdoor, goes against some written things in the constitution. Although the right to privacy isn't clearly written as " All Citizens have a right to privacy", it is expressed through many amendments. For example; Amendment one, privacy of beliefs/values. Amendment 4; privacy from unlawful searches and seizures, and many others. Although the government is allowed to expand its power over laws/rights ( elastic clause) under certain circumstances, they should be limited on how far they're able to go. Is this an event in which the government is trying to go too far? Most people would think so... But let's see how America handles it at the court hearing... Apple vs. FBI.