February 25, 2016
An advocate for privacy holds up his iPhone at a rally in New York City. (Photo: Justin Lane/EPA)
Apple
filed a motion Thursday afternoon seeking to overturn a court order
that would require it to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of a San
Bernardino shooter, another shot in the battle between the world’s most
influential tech company and the U.S. government.
The
65-page brief argues that the FBI’s request would set a precedent that
opens the “floodgates” to a series of similar law enforcement requests,
ultimately compromising the privacy features of Apple’s devices.
“The
government says: ‘Just this once’ and ‘Just this phone,’” the brief
reads. “But the government knows those statements are not true … If this
order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before
some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other
judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent.”
Central
to the Cupertino-based company’s legal arguments is the claim that the
company’s code counts as protected speech under the First Amendment.
“The
government asks this Court to command Apple to write software that will
neutralize safety features that Apple has built into the iPhone in
response to consumer privacy concerns…” the brief reads. “This amounts
to compelled speech and viewpoint discrimination in violation of the
First Amendment.”
Apple’s
lawyers also expressed concern that the FBI’s request would “coercively
deputize Apple and other companies to serve as a permanent arm of the
government’s forensics lab.” The tech giant claims that creating and
storing a mobile operating system that aids the FBI in unlocking its
devices would require an excessive investment of staff, resources and
time. For instance, the motion said that it would take Apple as long as
four weeks to build the software the FBI needs to break into the San
Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.
“Here
the government wants to compel Apple to deploy a team of engineers to
write and test software code and create a new operating system that
undermines the security measures it has worked so hard to establish —
and then to potentially do that over and over again as other federal,
state, local and foreign prosecutors make demands for the same thing,”
the motion reads.
In
the brief’s conclusion, Apple argued that the decision to help the FBI
break into the iPhone in question should not be decided in the courts,
but by Congress — a sentiment echoed by CEO Tim Cook during an ABC
interview Wednesday night.
“While
the government’s desire to maximize security is laudable, the decision
of how to do so while also protecting other vital interests, such as
personal safety and privacy, is for American citizens to make through
the democratic process,” it read.
According to multiple news outlets,
Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon plan to file amicus briefs in
support of Apple. A public hearing between Apple and the FBI is
scheduled for March 22.
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