The Apple v. FBI encryption backdoor battle continues to rage, with a March 22nd court date looming. Most coverage of the debate has been predictably dry and boring. Luckily, we have comedic ‘news’ programs such as comedian John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight,” to add a humorous spin to the proceedings.
In the segment, Oliver lays out the battle, including some truly hilarious quotes from government officials, including Donald Trump’s “iPhone boycott” idea, as well as District Attorney Daniel Conley’s example of something Americans once thought impossible: ‘Kennedy said we cannot go to the moon. We are gonna get there in the next decade’.
Oliver also covers other facets of the story, such as the Manhattan district attorney that has 175 locked iPhones waiting to be unlocked, clips from the recent congressional hearing on encryption, as well as quotes from Tim Cook.
Oliver’s segment winds up with a mock ad – done in the style of Apple’s recent iPhone 6s ads – covering encryption, and how Apple is basically just one step ahead of hackers, without having to create a backdoor that the hackers would surely make use of.
Oliver, while coming down on the side of Apple in the debate, does an excellent job of presenting both sides of the debate. Apple and the FBI will meet in court beginning March 22, so I’m sure there will be plenty of material to fuel future episodes of Oliver’s show.
