Apple Supporters To Hold Series Of Protests Against FBI In LA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Rallies will be held at Apple stores nationwide Tuesday to support the company's refusal to help the FBI hack into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.
Last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered for Apple Inc. to assist federal investigators by creating specialized software that would let the FBI rapidly test random passcode combinations to try and unlock the iPhone and view data stored on it.
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 2015 before they died in a gun battle with police. The government confirmed the couple had been at least partly inspired by the Islamic State.
Farook and Malik physically destroyed two personal phones so that the FBI was unable to recover information from them.
Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook responded to the court order by saying that creating such software is a dangerous precedent that would threaten data security for millions by making essentially a master key that could later be duplicated and used against other phones.
Some family members of victims and survivors of the shooting massacre, however, plan to file court papers in support of the U.S. magistrate's order for Apple Inc. to help the FBI in its investigation.
"Our victims deserve a voice in federal court given Apple's decision to not comply with a court order," said San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos. "These are victims who were murdered, terrorized, and in some cases, continue to live in fear. It is our responsibility to assist them. We owe it to them to do everything we can to make sure justice is served."
Overnight, Microsoft founder Bill Gates sided with a popular opinion among executives in Silicon Valley, stating the feds have received important security information from companies like banks and that the public should be debating which safeguards to have in place.
Fight for the Future has organized the rallies, claiming the security features of iPhones won't just hurt privacy but will also put the public's safety at risk because there is no way to ensure the operating system would only be used by the government.
Later this evening, Apple supporters will protest outside stores located at The Grove, in Valencia and on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
Other protestors will participate in demonstrations being held outside Apple's stores in about 50 cities in the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Hong Kong.
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