Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman participated in a discussion with NPR All Things Considered on February 26, 2016 to examine Apple’s recent battle with the Justice Department over unlocking a suspected terrorist’s iPhone.
And Apple doesn’t have to write code, which equals speech, when it doesn’t agree with what the government wants to do. And it’s not that the government can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. The government can’t make you write a novel that’s true. But Professor Goldman says…
ERIC GOLDMAN: There are plenty of circumstances where the government mandates people to speak. For example, you have to put the nutrition label on your can of food if you want to sell that food into the economy.
LAURA SYDELL: That’s because there are safety issues involved in the sale of food, and certainly there are safety issues involved in this case. It’s possible that there’s something on the iPhone that tells of another pending plot against U.S. citizens. EFF attorney Andrew Crocker says Congress could make rules that force Apple to cooperate.
