In the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA reveal, society has grappled with how to balance personal privacy 1 and public safety. Events like the mass terror attacks in San Bernardino, Brussels, and Paris have only raised the stakes.

Records of our daily lives now exist on our smartphones. That is why the prospect of a federally sanctioned iPhone hack—even a one-time occurrence under the argument of national security—could open a Pandora's box 2; it could threaten future technological rights and human rights.

U.S. presidential candidates are calling for digital backdoors to a host of technologies 3, which would allow access to private information 4. This could create unintended entry points for rival governments and hackers, as well as damage the brands and trustworthiness of tech companies' products.