CommonDreams.org notes: “In an open letter posted online, Apple president Tim Cook states that the company opposes the court order, which essentially demands that Apple build a ‘backdoor to the iPhone.’ Such a move, Cook says, not only ‘threatens the security of our customers’ but would have ‘implications far beyond the legal case at hand.'”

J. KIRK WIEBE, jkwiebe at comcast.net
Wiebe is a retired National Security Agency whistleblower who worked at the agency for 36 years.

MARK KLEIN, markk2000 at comcast.net
Klein was an AT&T technician who in 2006 blew the whistle on AT&T’s cooperation with the NSA. He wrote the book Wiring Up The Big Brother Machine…And Fighting It.

He said today: “Good for him [Cook]. It’s nice occasionally to have a company that has the balls to stand up to the government. The government — especially people like [CIA Director John] Brennan — is trying to brow beat everybody using the threat of terrorism. This allows the government to continually expand its powers.

“Of course, companies violate the privacy of their customers frequently — Google scans your email to advertise to you. But Apple and Google have tightened their encryption. There’s no perfect business, that’s for sure. But some are more strong about it than others. Apple seems to be on the better end of the spectrum on these issues, Microsoft looks like one of the worst. The government has leverage over companies, including government contracts — AT&T has lots of government contacts.

“Qwest Communications resisted the George W. Bush administration’s request to get into their phone system, months before 9/11. After some interesting coincidences, the CEO of Qwest, Joseph Nacchio, ended up in jail on some trumped up charges.”