A Shoe for McAfee
In an op-ed titled “I’ll decrypt the San Bernardino phone free of charge, so Apple doesn’t need to place a backdoor on its product”, which he wrote for ‘The Business Insider’, the 2016 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate and the man behind the McAfee brand name, voiced his opinions in the ongoing right to privacy and law enforcement battle between Apple and The FBI in reference to the San Bernardino case.
Without mincing his words, McAfee blasts the US government in the op-ed for undermining America’s “already ancient cybersecurity and cyber defense systems.” Soo, on proceeding through the article after making references to Nazis and Hitler, he says that by forcing Apple to hack into its own devices, thereby bypassing the security framework that keeps the user’s data secure, the government is seeking to “bring about the end of the world.”
And what solution does he have in this ongoing hullaballoo between Apple and the US government – he plans to rise to the occasion and hack the iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, himself. He proclaims that he works with the best hackers in the business, who are “legends in local hacking groups like HackMiami” and are all “prodigies” whose acumen in this field is unparalleled.
It is these group of hackers who are going to break through the encryption that Apple claims to be unbreakable. He, promises to decrypt the data on the iPhone, without charging anything for his accomplishment, if he is able to accomplish it. Asking for a time period of three weeks – McAfee tells the government:
“If you accept my offer, then you will not need to ask Apple to place a back door in its product, which will be the beginning of the end of America.”
And the situation is a make or break one!
“I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone. This is a pure and simple fact.”
Now that escalated quickly!
The Legal Course
The government, in this case, has used a law that dates back to 1789 when it was first written. Titled, the ‘All Writs Act’, a US Federal Judge in the San Bernardino, has asked Apple to provide a ‘back door’ to decrypt the data on the iPhone of the deceased accused to look for any links that he might have had with any terrorist organisation.
The case has been getting a lot of limelight, with big personalities like Sundar Pichai and Steve Wozniak lending their voices for the tech giant.
And now, it’s McAfee who just takes the situation a few notched higher. And he ends his op-ed with a brilliant display of bravado – “If you doubt my credentials, Google “cybersecurity legend” and see whose name is the only name that appears in the first 10 results out of more than a quarter of a million.”
