WASHINGTON: A broad array of technology firms and activists joined Apple’s legal fight over encryption Thursday, warning of a dangerous precedent if the company is forced to help the government break into a locked iPhone.
Three tech associations representing Apple’s main business rivals — including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo — announced a joint brief supporting Apple’s efforts to challenge an order that would require it to help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers.
“If the government arguments prevail, the Internet ecosystem will be weakened, leaving Internet users more vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors,” said a statement from the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which announced a joint amicus brief with the Internet Association and the i2Coalition of Internet infrastructure firms.
The three associations said their brief was set to be filed before the midnight deadline in federal court in California, where the case is being heard.
A number of other companies and associations are also expected to file briefs in the case, which has divided the American public and set off a highly charged debate about what limits should be placed on law enforcement access to digital devices.
“There is broad and deep concern throughout many types of companies throughout the tech industry that there is a potentially dangerous precedent in this case,” said Ed Black, president and chief executive of CCIA.
