Apple is waging a vicious war in the court of public opinion against the FBI and its court order mandating Apple to hack an iPhone. It’s a big deal, but despite the hand-wringing rhetoric, Apple has failed to make the general public actually care.
The top photo comes from a demonstration yesterday afternoon in Washington DC, one of 40 planned actions protesting the FBI’s demands across the country. Sadly, despite the impressive level of organisation, few people seem to have turned up — according to Getty, around a dozen protesters turned up at the Washington demo, and a picture from the San Francisco rally shows more TV cameras than signs.
#DontBreakOurPhones kicking off in SF. This is not about Apple, it’s about the future of online safety & security. pic.twitter.com/PJOlxhtuDa
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) February 24, 2016
Similar levels of apathy are on display in recent poll posted by Pew Research Center, which showed that of 1000 adults surveyed, only 38 per cent sided with Apple.
All this is not to say that people should support the Justice Department: it’s that Apple is choosing to fight this argument very publicly, assuming that it could rely on the support of the hundreds of thousands who queue for days just to give Apple money. Hopefully, the legal strategy (Apple’s reply to the court order is due Friday) will be a little more successful.
Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images