By Holmes Wilson
We had rallies around the country last night, and photos are still coming in. The press response has been literally overwhelming. Our CTO Jeff even stopped coding and went on Fox News. That's how busy it was.
And it matters. This week, millions of people around the world will hear about this fundamental issue for the first time.
And you know what? They'll hear about it from our side, not the FBI.
That is *so* important.
We’ve already had a huge impact. Just today after our rallies dominated the mainstream media cycle for a week, a new Reuters poll shows that around half the country agrees with us that government backdoors are a bad idea. [1] Given that the poll didn’t even explain the real dangers of weakening phone security, this is pretty amazing. But the poll also shows that 20% of people are still undecided.
That means we’ve got a lot more work to do. We have to reach those people next, before the government wins their support with misinformation.
The public must understand this issue, because ultimately public opinion will decide it, in the US and around the world. If the FBI wins the public debate, how long can Apple or any major company hold out? And what country will be next to demand backdoors? The UK? Russia? China? (Hint: they already have.)
The right to secure our data is a critical issue for the future of the Internet. Yes, the future of privacy depends on it, but that’s just for starters. In an age when our very lives depend on complex systems working well, nothing less than our basic safety is at stake. Remember: engineers use iPhones too. If government weakens security on iPhones, that makes every system on the planet more vulnerable: banks, hospitals, airports, power plants, the list goes on.
Weakened security even leaves systems vulnerable to terrorists! The FBI isn't telling anyone this. That’s why we must.
Last night we did that. Together, we helped more people understand, by explaining and exposing folks to ideas they've maybe never heard before.
This work isn't glamorous, it's hard.
This is not an issue where we will drop in, kick butt and go home.
It's going to be a long conversation, everywhere in the world.
But yesterday, each one of us made our mark on that conversation. We’ll never know for sure, but you might have just changed history. I mean it.
Thanks for that,
Holmes Wilson... and the whole Fight for the Future team, after a long, long day.