The tone of the brief reads like an indictment. We’ve all heard director Comey and Attorney General Lynch thank Apple for its consistent help in working with law enforcement. Director Comey’s own statement…that there are no demons here? We certainly wouldn’t conclude it from this brief. In 30 years of practice, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a legal brief that was more intended to smear the other side with false accusations and innuendo, and less intended to focus on the real merits of the case. For the first time ever, we see an allegation that Apple has deliberately made changes to block law enforcement requests for access. This should be deeply offensive to everyone that reads it. An unsupported, unsubstantiated effort to vilify Apple rather than confront the issues in the case.
To do this in a brief before a magistrate judge just shows the desperation that the Department of Justice now feels. We would never respond in kind. But imagine Apple asking a court whether the FBI could be trusted because, there is this real question about whether J. Edgar Hoover ordered the assassination of Kennedy. See ConspiracyTheory.com as our supporting evidence. We add security features to protect our customers from hackers and criminals. And the FBI should be helping to support us in this because it keeps everyone safe. To suggest otherwise is demeaning. It cheapens the debate and it tries the mask the real and serious issues. I can only conclude that the DoJ is so desperate at this point that it has thrown all decorum to the winds.
Look, we know there are great people in the DoJ and the FBI. We work shoulder to shoulder with them all the time. That’s why this cheap shot brief surprises us so much. We help when we’re asked to. We’re honest about what we can and can’t do. Let’s at least treat one another with respect and get this case before the American people in a responsible way. We are going to court to exercise our legal rights. Everyone should beware, because it seems like disagreeing with the Department of Justice means you must be evil and anti-American. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I wasn’t on the call, so I can’t really comment on the tone… other than the obvious.
Perhaps their brief should start with “As it has been clearly demonstrated that the FBI is thoroughly unable to protect Americans from hackers and criminals…”
“We’ve all heard director Comey and Attorney General Lynch thank Apple for its consistent help in working with law enforcement.”
Problem is, Apple – Cook, really – skipped passed the essential PR step of making gospel the fact that it not only does Apple cooperate with law enforcement, but it has a department within the company sole for this purpose.
Apple PR dropped the ball by jumping immediately to a discussion focusing on the potential outcome of compliance with the FBI instead of repeatedly asserting at every opportunity that, “Apple works with law enforcement on issues like this, and we’re working with the FBI as we speak on this very case.”
More than just a whiff of McCarthyism here.
The FBI is not your friend.
The FBI doesn’t lookout for your best interests.
The FBI historically has been used as a tool against American citizens.
The FBI has historically tried to remove whatever privacy you may have in order two intrude on the lives of ordinary citizens.
The FBI has its own agenda separate from anyone else in the federal government.
The FBI systematically harasses individuals with the best tech that money can buy
The FBI is evil.
Our National heritage is one of dialog. Our country was built on the idea (ideal!) of dialog. From dialog comes compromise and true governance.
I am saddened by what our “dialog” has become: name calling, cheap shots, winner-take-all, bluster. Respect for others is absent. No one is interested in governing; it’s all about power.
No, they didn’t.
From the very start:
“The FBI asked us for help in the days following the attack, and we have worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime. We have no sympathy for terrorists.
When the FBI has requested data that’s in our possession, we have provided it. Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants, as we have in the San Bernardino case. We have also made Apple engineers available to advise the FBI, and we’ve offered our best ideas on a number of investigative options at their disposal.
We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good. Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.”
http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/
Should we be worried about the Obama Administration nationalizing Apple?
Correct. That followed the story breaking by a few days, and precious few with an opinion on the matter will dig that up. And to write it is not enough; cooperation was not a soundbite. Watch the various executive interviews.
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Tim Cook as such as much publicly as well on numerous occasions.
I think no matter what Apple were to say or write it would never be enough.
The FBI will use any tactic to discredit and drown out Apple, it’s there modus operandi.
While crediting and praising them as well, of course.
I agree here. I took issue mainly with the PR strategy as I saw it subjectively. This situation is clearly far more complex than just that.