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Hillary Clinton Isn’t Taking Sides In Apple Versus FBI

Robert Hackett
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Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
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Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
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March 8, 2016, 2:30 PM ET
Detroit, MI - March 7: Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, March 7, 2016, in Detroit, Michigan. Clinton is campaigning in Michigan ahead of the primary on March 8. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)
Detroit, MI - March 7: Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, March 7, 2016, in Detroit, Michigan. Clinton is campaigning in Michigan ahead of the primary on March 8. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)J.D. Pooley—Getty Images

Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential, is playing it safe on the subject of Apple versus the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

At a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Monday, Clinton spoke in support of both sides of the bitter debate, which has pitted one of the world’s most valuable companies against federal law enforcement over the issue of accessing data stored on an iPhone. Apple (AAPL) has refused to comply with a court order compelling it to develop a software tool to assist the agency as part of a terrorism investigation, for fear that doing so will compromise consumer privacy and security.

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“There has got to be some way to protect the privacy of data information,” Clinton said at the event, according to Bloomberg. “There has got to be some way to avoid breaking data encryption and opening the door to a lot of bad actors. But there has to be some way to follow up on criminal activity and prevent crimes and terrorism.”

“I am someone who is just feeling like I am in the middle of the worst dilemma ever,” she added.

For more on Hillary Clinton, watch:

 

Clinton’s equivocal position stands in stark contrast to that of Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, who has proposed boycotting Apple until the company complies with the FBI’s demands. Meanwhile, most tech companies have lined up behind Apple.

It’s not just Hillary who is undecided on the issue. Recent polls have shown conflicting results about the American public’s sentiments.

“It’s a problem we’ve got to come up with some way to solve,” Clinton said, Bloomberg reports. “And I am not expert in any way to tell you how to do it.”

Test your knowledge of the case in Fortune‘s quiz, below:

[playbuzz-item url=”//www.playbuzz.com/fortune/how-well-do-you-understand-apples-battle-with-the-fbi”]

 

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Robert Hackett
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