Apple CEO Tim Cook Releases Another Statement on FBI's Order, Says Unlocking iPhone is 'Bad For America'

By Staff Writer | Feb 25, 2016 02:49 AM EST

Apple CEO Tim Cook has once again reiterated that the government, specifically the FBI, should just drop the order regarding the unlocking of the San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook as it would be "bad for America."

In a report by Reuters, Cook said on Wednesday during an interview with ABC that if the company complies with the court order regarding helping the FBI break into an iPhone will be setting a legal precedent. This, he says, would offend many Americans.

Cook added that "some things are hard, and some things are right, and some things are both," referring to the case. He pointed out that what the government is asking is the "software equivalent" of cancer. He also noted that there should have been more dialogue with the Obama administration before the FBI asked Apple to help in the case, AOL reported. FBI decided to seek relief from a federal magistrate judge in California. Cook said that he plans to talk to Obama about the situation.

Apple has until February 26, Friday, to follow the request of the FBI issued by the court, but when asked if the company would is prepared to fight the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, he said they are. They had been firm in declining the request.

The iPhone that is in question belongs to one of the two suspects in the San Bernardino shooting. The shooting took place last December 2, just days after the Paris attacks, killing 14 then wounding 22 people.

The request is to have Apple disable the passcode protections so as to allow infinite number of guesses and not to erase the possible valuable data stored in the gadget. The Justice Department claims that their request will not pose any danger to any other phone and that Apple's resistance is just for their business model and public brand marketing strategy, CNN reported.

Many tech companies have rallied behind Apple such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Microsoft founder Bill Gates also gave his comment on the issue just recently. 

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