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Rutherford Institute Concerned Over FBI Bypassing Apple

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The announcement that the FBI bypassed Apple to crack open a terrorist's IPhone is sparking new fears about privacy.

Apple refused to hand over the data to the FBI in order to protect user privacy.

Charlottesville's Rutherford Institute, which concentrates on civil liberties, is weighing in with its concerns.

President of the Rutherford Institute, John Whitehead says the fact that the FBI was able to hack into the attacker's phone without Apple's help gives the public every reason to fear the FBI.

Whitehead says the FBI’s main job  is to look at social media posts which means it is  always watching. Any information on a phone, a laptop, or a computer is accessible by the government and the FBI Whitehead says has a history of snooping.

"If people remember about the FBI, they collected 17,000 pages of information on Martin Luther King to discredit the man's civil rights work, so they have a long history of wiring, tapping, listening," said Whitehead.

Whitehead believes the issue surrounding Apple and the FBI makes the public more vulnerable, adding that recent studies show Americans starting to censor themselves.

Whitehead also says the FBI has admitted it can turn your cell phone on from a distance and make it become a microphone.

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