Apple said it has received Amicus briefs supporting its stance against an FBI request to help unlock the iPhone of the shooter in the San Bernardino case in California. Aside from law professors and various associations, Apple also received support from Amazon, Box, Cisco, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nest, Pinterest, Slack, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Yahoo, as well as Intel and AT&T, plus others.
Google said it has signed an amicus brief in US federal court, together with a number of other tech companies, to voice concern about the use of a broad statute from the 18th century, the All Writs Act, to require companies to re-engineer important security features that protect people and their data.
The company said that while it supports the government’s goals of thwarting terrorist and criminal acts, it does think the government should be able to use the All Writs Act to force private companies to actively compromise their safety and security features that companies build into their products. “A bad precedent here could let governments compel companies to hack into your phones, your computers, your software, and your networks,” Google said.
Box CEO Aaron Levie told TechCrunch that the government is using a law or statute that was created 230 years ago to open up a device. The joint statement said the government is essentially re-writing laws without engaging in a public debate.
The amicus brief shows tech companies united in their view that the government’s order to Apple “exceeds the bounds of existing law” and in the long run, will harm security.
