It is well-known Apple is currently fighting a battle with the U.S. government for the past couple of weeks. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, released a statement to customers expressing the company’s concerns over the FBI’s demands, Feb. 16. The FBI has requested that Apple create a backdoor for Syed Farook’s iPhone. Farook was the terrorist who killed 15 people in San Bernardino with his wife.

However, the government and those supporting it are unaware of the lasting effects from creating a backdoor. The key Apple would have to create to unlock Farook’s iPhone could not only be manipulated by hackers, but also by governments around the world– including our own.

Cook explains the dangers that creating such a key could pose to civilian privacy and security.

“The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true,” Cook said. “Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.”

Recently Apple won a court ruling against the federal government over a drug case in New York. The judge stated that the government could not use the All Writs Act of 1789 to force Apple in extracting data from a drug criminal’s iPhone 5s. This kind of ruling can impact their San Bernardino case, since the government is also centering their argument around the All Writs Act.

These are problems that our own Founding Fathers addressed, even before the iPhone dominated the market. These Founding Fathers jeopardized the safety of not only themselves, but their families to gain freedom from the tyrannical Great Britain. — Macy Mascarenas

It is normal for the government to intervene in times where the American people feel insecure. The Patriot Act was signed into law due to the nation’s fear of crippled security after the 9/11 attacks. The Act allows law enforcement to search a home or business without an owner’s consent or knowledge, and allows the FBI to search through personal records such as phone and financial records.

However, we as a people cannot be made slaves to this. Making such laws that compromise civilian privacy is a violation of our 4th Amendment rights and thus turns the United States into a Big Brother style of totalitarian government, defeating the reason why this country was founded in the first place.

These are problems that our own Founding Fathers addressed, even before the iPhone dominated the market. These Founding Fathers jeopardized the safety of not only themselves, but their families to gain freedom from the tyrannical Great Britain. If Apple follows the orders of the government and opens a backdoor for the whole world to go through, it eradicates all progress the Founding Fathers made for us.

Personally, I hope that Apple wins this case against the government. They are not fighting this just for their own company’s benefit, but for their fellow Americans’ benefit. They know by compromising their customers’ privacy will not only hurt their business and send people to Android, but betray the purpose of our civil liberties. Hats off to Apple for standing up for our constitutional rights.

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This writer can be reached via Twitter: @macyyvictoria and email: Macy Mascarenas.