Ondrej Holzman Apple started publishing so-called friendly letters on its website, which have been accepted by the court to this day, dealing with a case between a California firm and the FBI, i.e. the US government. Dozens of technology companies, including the biggest players, have sided with Apple when it comes to protecting user privacy and security.
The support of the biggest technology companies is important for Apple, because indeed the FBI's request that Apple create a special operating system that would allow it to get into a blocked iPhone is not just about it. Companies such as Google, Microsoft or Facebook do not want the FBI to have such an opportunity and possibly knock on their door one day.
The companies "often compete vigorously with Apple" but "are speaking with one voice here because this is of exceptional importance to them and their customers," it says in a friendly letter (amicus brief) of fifteen companies, including Amazon, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snapchat or Yahoo.
The companies in question reject the government's claim that the law allows it to order the company's own engineers to undermine the security features of its products. According to the influential coalition, the government has misinterpreted the All Writs Act, on which the case is based.
In another friendly letter, other companies such as Airbnb, eBay, Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Reddit or Twitter expressed their support for Apple, there are sixteen of them in total.
"In this case, the government is invoking a centuries-old law, the All Writs Act, to force Apple to develop software that undermines its own carefully crafted security measures," the mentioned companies write to the court.
"This extraordinary and unprecedented attempt to force a private company, the state, into the investigative arm of government not only has no support in the All Writs Act or any other law, but also threatens the fundamental principles of privacy, security and transparency that underpin the Internet."
Other big companies are also behind Apple. They sent their own letters US operator AT&T, Intel and other companies and organizations are also opposing the FBI's request. Complete list of friendly letters can be found on the Apple website.
However, the friendly letters did not reach the court only in support of Apple, but also the other side, the government and its investigative body, the FBI. For example, some of the families of the victims of last December's terrorist attack in San Bernardino are behind the investigators, but it seems that the bigger Apple has official support so far.
