Edward Snowden is not a man who beats around the bush, which is why it was all the more striking when at a conference yesterday he called the FBI's claims that it needed Apple to unlock an iPhone, "bullsh*t".
According to The Next Web, Snowden waded headlong into an argument which is raging in the US at the moment after the FBI tried to issue a court order forcing Apple to unlock an iPhone 5c which had belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters.
Speaking at the Common Cause conference, Snowden remarked that: “The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone, respectfully, that’s bullshit.”
The FBI want a 'backdoor' through the encryption which currently protects every iPhone.
Since the FBI's request both Apple and a number of other major technology companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter have all spoken out against the court order warning about the huge precedent it would set for personal privacy in the US and here in the UK.
Apple's main argument against the request is that for the FBI to access the iPhone, Apple would need to build a specially designed version of iOS which would then remove a lot of the security features which currently protect every iPhone, iPad and iPod.
Tim Cook has published an open letter on Apple's website defying the government request.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in an letter to customers that the US Government have "asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create."
"In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession." said Cook.
There have been arguments on both sides of course with some security experts claiming that the FBI doesn't need Apple.
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Security expert John McAfee even went live on air to explain how he could hack the iPhone in 'half an hour'.
While McAfee's methods have been called into question, he does at least agree with Snowden that if the FBI really wanted to get into the iPhone then both believe the organisation has the means to do it.