Apple CEO commits to annual dividend raise, says is advocate for privacy

Even if Apple loses its high-profile legal fight with the FBI, San Bernardino county law enforcement isn’t expecting any fresh leads.

In a motion filed on Thursday, Apple said that the San Bernardino case isn’t “about one isolated iPhone”. Writing code for the FBI would make Apple agents of the federal government, so the code would be tantamount to expressing support for the government and its actions.

Apple filed its legal arguments Thursday opposing a judge’s order that would require the company to create tools that would make it easier for FBI investigators to unlock the phone used by one of the attackers in the December massacre in San Bernardino, California. Like Apple, it fears creating a precedent that authorities could use to read messages, photos and other sensitive information stored on phones. FBI Director James Comey and Apple’s general counsel, Bruce Sewell, are among those expected to testify.

The flurry of legal activity by the companies came as the Federal Bureau of Investigation also escalated the matter, calling on Congress to settle the question of when law enforcement should get access to citizens’ private data.

He added: “Some things are hard and some things are right”.

In the Apple case, the DOJ asked a magistrate to apply language in a statute called the All Writs Act “that was passed by Congress and written in 1911″, Smith said, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Apple also said the order would force it to code a now nonexistent operative system – the “Government OS” or “GovtOS“- to hack Farook’s device, and the whole operation would put an excessive burden on the company in terms of money and staff.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai too stands by Apple in this conflict, saying the FBI’s demand is a threat to millions of Americans’ security and that could be used to diminish civil liberties.

Rivalry between massive technology firms can be pretty extreme at times, with many of them launching lawsuits against each other on a regular basis, so it’s rare for big companies to show support for their competitors. In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 51 percent of the public sides with the Justice Department and urges Apple to help the authorities crack the iPhone that shooter Syed Farook used to own.