Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook changed course Monday in his opposition to a court order that the company help hack a terrorist’s iPhone — warning that compliance would set “a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties.”
In a company-wide e-mail, Cook tried to rally his troops by calling Apple “a uniquely American company” and offering to “gladly participate” with Congress in forming a blue-ribbon panel to tackle the issue.
“It does not feel right to be on the opposite side of the government in a case centering on the freedoms and liberties that government is meant to protect,” Cook admitted.
Last week, Cook sounded the alarms over “the threat to data security” when he announced Apple would fight the FBI’s efforts to unlock slain ISIS supporter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c.
Cook’s Monday e-mail also linked to a new Q&A on the Apple Web site that repeatedly cites the “dangerous” consequences of defeating the data-destroying lock on Farook’s device.
In one answer, Apple says the software that the FBI wants “would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks” on Apple devices around the world — and predicted it could eventually wind up in the wrong hands.
“Of course, Apple would do our best to protect that key, but in a world where all of our data is under constant threat, it would be relentlessly attacked by hackers and cyber criminals,” according to the tech giant. “As recent attacks on the IRS systems and countless other data breaches have shown, no one is immune to cyber attacks.”
Meanwhile, a former federal judge who’s representing several victims and survivors of the terror attack by Farook and his wife blasted Cook’s stance, saying that “there is no right in our Constitution that is absolute.”
“I don’t know why Mr. Cook is trying to use this case to take a stand on this, but I think it’s really misplaced,” said Stephen Larson, who plans to file a “friend of the court” brief supporting the feds next month.
Apple’s response to the court order is due Friday.