WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook says the U.S. government should withdraw its demand that Apple help the FBI hack a locked iPhone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino attack.
In an early Monday morning email to employees and an online post, Cook dismisses the government’s claims that the company is acting out of business interests. He says a magistrate’s order would essentially create a backdoor to the encrypted iPhone, which is Apple argues is unlawful and a dangerous precedent.
FBI Director James Comey said in an online post Sunday that Apple owes this cooperation to the victims of the California shootings and said the FBI could not otherwise “look the survivors in the eye.”
The iPhone was used by Syed Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in December.
Related: Apple says software to help FBI with shooter’s iPhone hack is ‘too dangerous to create’
