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Apple ( AAPL ) on Thursday asked a federal judge to reverse her order that the company work with the FBI to hack a password-protected iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack. In a court filing, Apple argued that the government has overstepped its bounds. “The government’s request here creates an unprecedented burden on Apple and violates Apple’s First Amendment rights against compelled speech,” it said. To fulfill the government’s demands, Apple would have to write special software that would create a “backdoor” to bypass the iPhone’s privacy and security protections. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that complying with the court order would set a “dangerous precedent” that threatens the personal data of all iPhone users. If Apple creates the software that the government wants, it would make iPhones vulnerable to hackers, criminals, and foreign and domestic spies, he said. “This is not a case about one isolated iPhone,” Apple’s legal team wrote. “Rather, this case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe.” Apple’s motion to vacate says the court order would open the floodgates to other law enforcement and government requests to hack iPhone security. Apple said the Justice Department and FBI are trying to do an end run around Congress and use the courts to set a legal precedent by invoking “terrorism.” Earlier Thursday, FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel that court approval of the FBI’s request was “unlikely to be a trailblazer” in other cases. While the case “will be instructive for other courts,” larger policy questions about reasonable law enforcement access to encrypted data will need to be resolved by Congress and others, Comey said, according to Reuters . Microsoft ( MSFT ) President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said his company “wholeheartedly” sides with Apple in its fight with the FBI over unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone, the Seattle Times reported . “We at Microsoft support Apple and will be filing an amicus brief next week,” Smith said Thursday during a congressional hearing on laws governing data transfers across borders. An Amazon.com ( AMZN ) spokesperson said that company is looking to file a brief supporting Apple’s position, BuzzFeed reported , and Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google is also in support. On Feb. 16, U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym ordered Apple to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI to unlock an iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the killers in the San Bernardino shootings. The order calls for Apple to create software that can get around or disable the security option that erases data from an iPhone after 10 unsuccessful attempts to unlock it. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2. The radicalized Muslim couple, described in press reports as supporters of terror group ISIS, later died in a gun battle with police. RELATED: Poll Shows Solid Support For Apple In iPhone Encryption Case . Scalper1 News
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