Former Solicitor General Ted Olson is one of the most prominent lawyers in America. He has taken up Apple's fight against the FBI over an encrypted iPhone.
A magistrate, at the FBI's request, has ordered Apple to help investigators work around the iPhone's security features. Apple says that's judicial overreach — and a violation of constitutional rights.
Last week, at the FBI's request, a court ordered Apple to cooperate with federal agents and help unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. The company says the demand is illegal.
National security hawks want a bill that would order tech companies to open phones for law enforcement; other legislators think a panel should dig into the subject and make recommendations first.
In an interview, Cook reiterated the company's position that Apple will not create iPhone-cracking software for the FBI, as the government has ordered.
Citing cases in New York, Illinois and elsewhere, Apple says it has received — and resisted — federal orders to access data on iPhones and an iPad in recent months.
The two titans aired their views on what's become a public debate over whether Apple should be compelled to unlock an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.
Apple is opposing an FBI request to defeat the security on the San Bernardino shooter's phone — but it's not the first time Apple has opposed such an order. A 2015 case may hint at what's to come.
The majority of Americans — 51 percent — think that the tech giant should cooperate with a court order to help the FBI access a San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, according to a new Pew survey.