“It is a battle for public opinion almost as much as it is for the law,” David Pierson and Paresh Dave report for The Los Angeles Times. “nd in Apple Inc., the government faces a formidable corporate foe — an iconic American brand that merely has to stand up for privacy to keep the reputation of its products intact. If the company loses in court, chances are it’s still business as usual for the iPhone.”
“For the government, the stakes are higher. It has chosen the encrypted iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook to make its long-held case that airtight consumer electronics are undermining national security,” Pierson and Dave report. “A loss in court would likely widen the gap between technology and law enforcement, making its job that much harder at a time when Silicon Valley and Washington have struggled to see eye-to-eye.”
“‘They’re in a win-win situation,’ Angelo Zino, an analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said of Apple after issuing a strong buy recommendation for the company’s stock Monday. ‘The immediate term may look bad for them, but there’s absolutely no impact on the fundamentals of the company. They’re the darlings of many consumers,'” Pierson and Dave report. “‘Some consumers will look at this and say, ‘Apple is fighting for my data’ and that will reflect well on Apple,’ said Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. ‘This all helps Apple’s reputation.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The feckless U.S. government does Apple’s marketing for them. In one week, Apple is now synonymous with privacy, security, and freedom.
Keep it up, James Comey et al. Apple will be here long after you’re gone.
SEE ALSO:
Here are the 12 other cases where the U.S. government has demanded Apple help it hack into iPhones – February 23, 2016
John McAfee blasts FBI for ‘illiterate’ order to create Apple iPhone backdoor – February 23, 2016
Some family members of San Bernardino victims back U.S. government – February 23, 2016
Apple supporters to rally worldwide today against U.S. government demand to unlock iPhone – February 23, 2016
U.S. government seeks to force Apple to extract data from a dozen more iPhones – February 23, 2016
Apple CEO Cook: They’d have to cart us out in a box before we’d create a backdoor – February 22, 2016
Tim Cook’s memo to Apple employees: ‘This case is about more than a single phone’ – February 22, 2016
Obama administration: We’re only demanding Apple hack just one iPhone – February 17, 2016