WikiLeaks Reignites Tensions Between Silicon Valley and Spy Agencies -
By VINDU GOEL and NICK WINGFIELDMARCH 7, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO — Four years ago, Edward J. Snowden’s disclosures
that the federal government was hacking America’s leading technology companies threw the industry into turmoil.
Now WikiLeaks has shaken the tech world again by releasing documents Tuesday
that appear to show that the Central Intelligence Agency had acquired an array of cyberweapons that could be used to break into Apple and Android smartphones, Windows computers, automotive computer systems, and even smart televisions to conduct surveillance on unwitting users.
But last year, relations soured again after Apple resisted a Justice Department request for help accessing the iPhone of one of the attackers in the 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. As the company’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, explained in a letter to customers at the time, “The government is asking Apple to hack our own users
and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers.”
In that case, the government eventually found a way into the phone without Apple’s assistance.
“If you understand the Assange playbook,” Mr. Falkowitz said, “a lot of it is just to create chaos.”
But Mr. Falkowitz added that perhaps the most important message behind Tuesday’s leaks was
that neither government agencies nor companies can trust their employees to keep their most precious information secret.
After the disclosures by Mr. Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, the government appeared to give some ground to the industry, which was angered by previously unknown snooping on their products
and embarrassed by disclosures of their cooperation with intelligence agencies.