Privacy Campaigners Organize Rallies To Support Apple In FBI Case

In order to protest, the FBI's demands that Apple unlocks the iPhone in San Bernardino shooter investigation, numerous privacy campaigners held organized rallies across the Unites States.

The protests oppose the order of a U.S. federal judge asking Apple to assist the FBI investigation by unlocking an iPhone belonging to suspected San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The timeframe for Apple to file its legal response is until Feb 26. However, the company already opposed the court order in an open letter to customers.

Last week, the website Mac Rumors already reported some limited protests in California. Now, the rallies extended from Washington DC to Albuquerque. Privacy campaigners are gathering in over 50 U.S. cities in order to support Apple's position in the FBI case. The high-tech giant states that by complying with the bureau's demands the company would risk compromising the security of millions of users' data. 

In Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Reno and Portland large crowds have gathered in front of Apple Stores. Protestors are wearing signs and T-shirts with slogans such as "Don't break our phones." At the site of last week's protests, San Francisco's downtown store, the protest has begun late afternoon and continued into the evening. The rally drew around 40 protestors and about 20 members of the press.

According to the publication Cult of Mac, Rainey Reitman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation declared that the organization is concerned that this could become a very dangerous precedent in case that Apple undermines its security in response to the FBI's request.

The further risk is that any number of cases going forward would use this precedent. Both international governments and the US government might take advantage of this dangerous precedent in the future. This could include, of course, authoritarian regimes that might seek surveillance of their citizens and access to their information.

Reitman added that the foundation he represents is also worried that in case that Apple creates that key to unlock the iPhone involved in the FBI's investigation this could be misused in many diverse ways, for example it could be stolen and used by hackers that want to seek access to information. According to Reitman, it is not appropriate that a tech company is ordered by the government to undermine its own security in any way.