Microsoft Says It Backs Apple in Case Over Terrorist's Phone

Microsoft Corp. backs  Apple Inc. in its fight with the U.S. government over unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone, said President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith.
The company will file an amicus brief to support Apple next week, Smith said at a congressional hearing to discuss the need for new legislation to govern privacy, security and law enforcement in the age of Internet-based cloud services.
Apple is refusing to comply with a court order requiring it to create tools that will make it easier for FBI investigators to unlock the phone used by one of the attackers in the December massacre in San Bernardino, California.
Asked about Apple’s contention that the case is about more than one phone, Smith said “every case has implications for others.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said Thursday at a different hearing that the government isn’t looking to send a message, but acknowledged that the case may set a precedent.
Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has vowed to fight the order, saying the software required to access the phone’s contents doesn’t exist and creating it would potentially put billions of iPhones at risk of being hacked or spied on by governments. Apple’s response to the court is due Friday.
Microsoft has so far not commented on the case beyond participating in a statement last week from an industry group that said while it’s “extremely important” to deter crime and terrorism, no company should be required to build back doors to their own technology.
Microsoft itself is fighting the U.S. government over an order to turn over a suspected drug trafficker’s e-mails that are stored in one of the company’s data centers in Ireland. Apple has backed Microsoft in that case, which is waiting on the ruling of an appellate court in New York.
Earlier this week, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told Bloomberg Television he was "disappointed" by reports that he supports the U.S. government in this dispute, saying it doesn’t accurately reflect his opinion.
“That doesn’t state my view on this,” he said in an interview on “Bloomberg Go.” “The extreme view that government always gets everything, nobody supports that. Having the government be blind, people don’t support that.”
The Financial Times reported that Gates sided with the U.S. government, saying that the court order requiring Apple to help unlock the phone was a one-time request and “no different” from accessing bank and telephone records.