It seems the tide of public opinion may be turning against Apple.
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In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates took the position of the government, denying the case would set a precedent.
“Should governments be able to access information at all or should they be blind, that’s essentially what we are talking about”, he told the BBC.
In a letter unsealed on Tuesday addressed to a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, overseeing one such case, Apple said it had received requests since October to assist law enforcement in accessing 13 other locked iPhones.
Bill Gates is supportive of investigators’ efforts to force Apple to help them crack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, saying a balance needs to be struck between government access and the need to preserve data security.
Since then, many have sided with Apple while others have tried to make Apple comply. A USA magistrate ordered Apple to write software that would enable FBI investigators to break open the phone but Apple has so far refused.
An Apple spokesperson said the company has no response to Gates’ stance, and Microsoft has been contacted for comment. The government has portrayed its request as limited in nature, a one-time demand focused on a single device, the work phone issued to Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino gunmen who killed 14 people late past year.
On Sunday, FBI Director Jim Comey called for people to “stop saying the world is ending”. Gates told The Financial Times that society benefits from the government’s ability to investigate and thwart terror plots, although he acknowledged some rules are needed to protect information.
In an internal memo obtained by TechCrunch, Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees that he has “received messages from thousands of people in all 50 states”, and that the “overwhelming majority” have “voiced their strong support” for the company. “But we have a big responsibility to prevent terrorism, and we want to help the governments prevent terrorism”.
Again, we strongly believe the only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn’t abused and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to never create it.
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The protests organized by the Internet rights group Fight for the Future are scheduled to occur Tuesday outside Apple stores the U.S., the U.K., Hong Kong and Germany.
