President Donald Trump had some stern words for Apple Inc. Wednesday, when the leader let loose on Twitter about how the company doesn’t play ball.

“We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements,” tweeted Trump. “They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

The crime in question happened last December when three people were fatally shot at a naval base in Florida. The offender was a Saudi Air Force officer and his actions were called “an act of terrorism” by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. The initial investigation showed that the man was motivated by jihadist ideology. The FBI now wants to look inside his two phones and have Apple create a decryption key.

“We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation,” said Apple after Trump’s tirade. “Our responses to their many requests since the attack have been timely, thorough and are ongoing.”

Nonetheless, according to reports, Apple is getting ready for a legal wrangle with the Department of Justice. Since the murders have been called terrorists acts, some U.S. officials think Apple should overlook privacy on this occasion. The authorities want to know who the shooter was working with, if anyone, and if he was inked to any particular group.

Apple provided the cloud & transactional info about the Saudi shooter at Pensacola. Third parties can unlock phones. But asking Apple to create a key to unlock any phone, which is what AG Barr wants, is handing a tech company or the government way too much power over citizens! https://t.co/0GNMLA79Gu

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) January 15, 2020

“So far, Apple has not given any substantive assistance,” said Barr at a conference earlier this week. “This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that the public be able to get access to digital evidence once it has obtained a court order based on probable cause.”

Despite the challenging ethics of the situation, Apple has the support of many who value privacy. The American Civil Liberties Union said unlocking one phone would essentially put at risk millions of iPhones. “Apple simply can’t give the FBI access to encrypted communications without also providing it to authoritarian foreign governments and weakening our defenses against criminals and hackers,” said the ACLU.

The debate mirrors something that happened back in 2016 when the FBI demanded that Apple unlock a phone. The phone was owned by a couple who killed 14 people and injured many others in San Bernardino, California, in what was called an Islamic terrorist attack. In that case the FBI did eventually get into the phone, but only with the help of hackers and a big payout.

Even though the case is severe, so far it seems that much of the media and the public prefer protecting privacy over giving law enforcement the keys to the doors of millions of phones. Under Trump’s rant, someone tweeted, “You are being accused of crimes, why not let them unlock your phone for all of us to see? I mean, it’s for the good of the country, right? We deserve to know what is on there so we can determine if you are guilty or innocent.”

Some reports suggest that the FBI can exploit vulnerabilities in these phones just as it did in 2016 and that it will just take some level of expertise. Having the keys to the kingdom might not even be necessary.

Photo: Gabriel Andres/Flickr