{"id":817,"date":"2016-02-29T04:15:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T04:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/?p=817"},"modified":"2024-12-23T08:00:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T08:00:42","slug":"apples-rivals-wary-of-taking-stand-on-encryption-issue-against-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/apples-rivals-wary-of-taking-stand-on-encryption-issue-against-the-fbi-817\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s rivals wary of taking stand on encryption issue, against the FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Apple\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

As Apple resists the US government in a high profile stand-off over privacy, rival device makers are, for now, keeping a low profile.<\/p>\n

Most are Asian companies \u2014 the region produces eight of every 10 smartphones sold around the world \u2014 and operate in a complex legal, political and security landscape.<\/p>\n

Only China\u2019s Huawei has publicly backed Apple CEO Tim Cook in his fight to resist demands to unlock an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of those who went on a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of investment into privacy, and security protection is key. It is very important for the consumer,\u201d Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei\u2019s consumer business group, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress earlier this week.<\/p>\n

But Yu stopped short of saying explicitly that Huawei would adopt the same stance. \u201cSome things the government requires from vendors we cannot do,\u201d he said, citing an example of unlocking an encrypted Android device. \u201cThese are important things for the consumer, for privacy protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenovo Group CEO Yang Yuanqing declined to say whether he backs the Apple position, saying the issue required time and consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday it happens to Apple, tomorrow it could happen to Lenovo mobile phones. So we must be very serious to consider. We need to take some time,\u201d Yang told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Samsung Electronics Co and Chinese device maker Xiaomi declined to comment, while ZTE Corporation did not respond to requests for comments.<\/p>\n

South Korean mobile maker LG Electronics Inc said it takes personal privacy and security very seriously, but declined to say whether it had ever worked with any government to insert so-called \u201cbackdoors\u201d into its products or whether it had ever been asked to unlock a smartphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to be seen as a roadblock to an investigation,\u201d said a spokesperson for Micromax, India\u2019s biggest local smartphone maker. \u201cNobody wants that kind of stigma. We have to take care of both customer security as well as (a) genuine threat to national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Asian countries don\u2019t have privacy laws that device makers can fall back on to resist demands from law enforcement authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of the evidence gathering process provided for under the law, law enforcement agencies in Singapore may request information from persons or organizations,\u201d Singapore\u2019s Ministry of Home Affairs Spokesperson told Reuters.
\nAn official at India\u2019s telecom regulator said authorities can ask for private user data from technology companies, as can those in Indonesia, said Ismail Cawidu, spokesman for Indonesia\u2019s Communication and Information Ministry.
\nEugene Tan, associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University, said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if technology firms weren\u2019t being asked for access to their devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just that these are not made public. You can imagine for the technology companies, they are also concerned about the publicity \u2014 if they are seen to be caving in to law enforcement agencies, there is always a fear that people may not use their products and services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Micromax said this was commonplace in India. \u201cI can\u2019t say no to a law enforcement request, and every day there is one,\u201d the company\u2019s spokesperson said. \u201cYou have to comply with requests in the larger interest of national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Apple battle may even spur regulators in some markets to demand device makers to grant them access.
\nThailand\u2019s telecoms regulator said it is studying the possibility of having separate agreements with handset makers and social media firms such as Facebook and Naver\u2019s LINE to help extract data from mobile phones.
\n\u201cThere is political pressure\u201d for regulating devices, said Rob Bratby, manager of Olswang Asia, a technology-focused law firm based in Singapore.<\/p>\n

He said there was no evidence of any such regulatory interest yet, but it was a matter of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Apple resists the US government in a high profile stand-off over privacy, rival device makers are, for now, keeping a low profile. Most are Asian companies \u2014 the region produces eight of every 10 smartphones sold around the world \u2014 and operate in a complex legal, political and security landscape. Only China\u2019s Huawei has … Continue reading Apple\u2019s rivals wary of taking stand on encryption issue, against the FBI<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[60,329,29],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-apple","tag-huawei","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}