Bill Gates Sides With FBI in iPhone Hack Request

Gates also believed that there must be rules on when the government is able to access such data.

‘This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information, ‘ Gates told the Financial Times.

Gates stated in a handful of interviews that it’s not uncommon for phone companies and banks to hand over customer information to investigators. “They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case”, Bill Gates told the Financial Times. However, when pushed on the issue Microsoft referred to a statement issued by the Reform Government Surveillance group of which it is a member.

Prosecutors said Apple has chosen to repudiate a judge’s order instead of following it. The department says Apple designs its products to allow technology – “rather than the law” – to control access to critical data.

“We have crimes all the time that data from a cellphone is helpful”, said Evans.

More recently, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said he was “sympathetic” to Apple’s stance in the row.

A US magistrate ordered Apple to write software that would enable FBI investigators to break open the phone but Apple has so far refused.

The county-issued iPhone 5C was used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people at an office holiday party in December before they died in a gun battle with police.

But James Comey’s emotive letter posted on Law Fare Sunday calls on the tech giant to see beyond the supposed implications of the hack and reflect on the “context of this heart-breaking case” Comey writes that the Federal Bureau of Investigation “doesn’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land” and that the matter is “about the victims and justice”. USA national security, a more than 225-year-old statute and concerns expressed by survivors of the attack may force Chief Executive Tim Cook’s hand, but his privacy points are strong.

He added in an interview with The Associated Press that public opinion will likely be on the government’s side, saying “I do think people want the government to act on their behalf if they feel like the safeguards are there”. Of those questioned, 38% said Apple should resist the call and 11% had no opinion.