Firefox Voices Support For Apple, Launches Advocacy Campaign For Encryption

Mozilla and Firefox Executive Director Mark Surman have come out in support of Tim Cook’s and Apple’s resistance to complying with the recent legal order to unlock an iPhone recovered during the FBI investigation surrounding the San Bernardino shooting in December 2015.

“We respect the concerns of law enforcement officials, but we believe that proposals to weaken encryption — especially requirements for backdoors — would seriously harm the security of all users of the Internet,” said Surman. The Firefox exec not only shared a post on The Mozilla Blog , but also wrote an op-ed for CNN and a piece on Medium as well.

In fact, Mozilla launched a Privacy & Encryption Advocacy campaign earlier this February, even before Apple published its open letter about the dangers of building a backdoor into iOS. Users can sign up on Firefox’s educational campaign website to receive “resources and videos about encryption and other topics essential to protecting the Web,” Mozilla writes.

“We will also need to get Mozilla’s community — and the broader public — involved. We will need them to tell their elected officials that individual privacy and security online cannot be treated as optional. We can play a critical role if we get this message across,” Surman writes. “We know this is a tough road. Most people don’t even know what encryption is. Or, they feel there isn’t much they can do about online privacy. Or, both.”

Mozilla has championed Internet issues before, and collaborated with the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) to develop the Let’s Encrypt project. Still in beta, Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated Web certificate authority that allows secure connections between web browsers and website servers.

Apple has three more days to change their mind about not decrypting the iPhone for the FBI, but it’s unsure if they’ll comply or just stick to their guns. Multiple other Internet-focused companies have come out in support of Apple’s stance, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai , Twitter and Facebook . Apple’s own track record on the issue speaks for itself

However, the justice department did recently come after Apple, calling their protest a “marketing strategy,” according to the New York Times , and didn’t show any indication of changing their mind about their request in court documents.

Separately, Bloomberg recently published details about a secret memo regarding senior national security officials ordering “agencies across the U.S. government to find ways to counter encryption software and gain access to the most heavily protected user data on the most secure consumer devices, including Apple Inc.’s iPhone.”

According to Bloomberg , the confidential National Security Council memo is titled “decision memo,” and reveals that “the government [has been privately] honing a sharper edge to its relationship with Silicon Valley alongside more public signs of rapprochement.”

The memo also instructed government agencies to identify laws that need changing regarding encryption, focus on creating workarounds to access a locked device and also estimate the additional funds needed to budget for the extra expense.