“Make no mistake about who Microsoft sides with in the case of Apple versus FBI,” Robert Hackett reports for Fortune.
“Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith said at a congressional hearing on Thursday that his company “wholeheartedly” supports Apple’s refusal to assist the FBI in unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone,” Hackett reports. “‘We at Microsoft support Apple and will be filing an amicus brief next week,’ he said.”
“The tech exec apparently whipped out an early 20th century adding machine to illustrate his point, the Seattle Times reports. ‘We do not believe that courts should seek to resolve issues of 21st century technology with a law that was written in the era of the adding machine,’ he said, alluding to the All Writs Act, which is the basis of the FBI’s case,” Hackett reports.
“Previously, the only hint at Microsoft’s position came last week when CEO Satya Nadella retweeted a link Smith posted to Twitter. The link led to a statement from the industry group Reform Government Surveillance that objects to encryption ‘backdoors,'” Hackett reports. “(Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently walked back from statements that seemed to endorse the FBI’s position.)”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Because, if Microsoft didn’t back Apple, everyone on the planet would believe Microsoft to be in cahoots with the U.S. government and that Windows 10 already has backdoors built in. Such a thing would severely limit Windows PC sales*, even in America, but especially worldwide. Now they have to try to get crazy back on the reservation.
*Sales of Windows phones and tablets are already limited to Zunian proportions regardless.
SEE ALSO:
Bill Gates waffles, doesn’t support the U.S. government or Apple in iPhone privacy fight – February 23, 2016
Bill Gates backs U.S. government’s iPhone hack request – February 23, 2016