Apple CEO Tim Cook Offers Vigorous Defense in New Interview

Apple provided a list of cases where it is opposing the US Justice Department’s requests in a 17 February letter to a federal judge in Brooklyn, where the company is challenging government efforts to access an iPhone in a drug trafficking case.

America’s top spy said in an interview today that he supports the FBI’s high-profile battle to force Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers. The company’s supporters planned protests to show their support outside Apple stores in 50 cities Tuesday, including the Apple store at Atlanta’s Cumberland Mall. “Apple has access to the information, they are just refusing to provide the access and the courts will tell them whether to provide the access or not”.

Apple, on the other hand, requested the government create a panel to discuss the situation and find a peaceful solution without having to put a threat to data security. In the documents, the Department of Justice says the list is correct – and adds that it found “at least one additional All Writs Act order” for obtaining information from an iPhone. “Apple, as an American corporation, has a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen….”

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Apple meant to use free speech as one element of its defence as it challenges a court order to comply with the FBI’s demands.

“This office, as a law enforcement agency, can no longer in good conscience issue iPhones as the smartphone of choice”, said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

“The government is really seeking to push the courts to do what they haven’t been able to persuade Congress to do”, Boutrous said in an AP interview.

“We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land”, Comey said in a posting that appeared on the Lawfare blog and on the Federal Bureau of Investigation website.

They hate the government, that is, until they need the government.

But other judges have chimed in to say that code is not protected under the First Amendment.

In the meantime, Apple engineers are developing a series of security measures for the iPhone that would make it even more hard for the government to hack a locked iPhone, The New York Times reports. Those phones, with operating software designed earlier than the iPhone used in California, allowed Apple to use a physical tool to extract data from them.

Apple and its supporters have also expressed concerns that the case could set a far-reaching precedent.

Many people have pushed back, including some of the victims in the San Bernardino shooting, arguing that Apple is being unpatriotic and aiding terrorists.