The FBI vs. Apple
The FBI v. Apple, a dangerous new step in government repression. What is the FBI trying to force Apple to do, and why? We talk with Shahid Buttar, Director of Grassroots Advocacy at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) and David Greene, Senior Staff Attorney and Civil Liberties Director at EFF, who has just filed an amicus brief in the Apple v. FBI case, on behalf of 46 technology experts.
On February 16, two and a half months after the murders of 14 people in San Bernardino, California, the FBI got a judge to sign an order that would force the Apple corporation to write a software program that would allow the government to read encrypted information on an iPhone owned by one of the alleged shooters. Apple refused, pointing out that creating the software would allow the government to defeat encryption programs on all iPhones.
Whether it's the San Bernardino shootings or the attacks in Paris, the system responds with calls for greater surveillance and repression -- which will inevitably be used against ALL political forces, as well as to justify the mass collection of information on hundreds of millions of people that is already being carried out.
"My Sister"
"My Sister," a play starring Elizabeth and Emily Hinkler, who are our guests on the show, takes place in the Germany of 1933. As the play opens, twin sisters Matilde and Magda are celebrating. Magda, who works at a hospital, has just gotten a break, and performed at a cabaret. Matilde, who has cerebral palsy, and stays inside their small apartment, writes Magda's material. But even as they celebrate, the shadow is falling. Step by step, the Nazis consolidate their control, and every part of German life is affected. Magda wants to keep her head down, to wait for "normal times" to reappear. Matilde is dismayed by this, and, though she never leaves their room, sees clearly the moral choice before them.
The play was written by Janet Schlapkohl, and is currently playing in Los Angeles. But the questions it raises are important, for everyone, today.