It's been a busy year for Apple CEO Tim Cook since the company's last shareholders' meeting. Apple added new iPhone models, updated the Apple TV set-top box, made a larger iPad and designed a pencil to use with it. The company also revised its Mac OS X and iOS mobile software that runs on more than 1 billion mobile devices.
But investors gathered Friday for this year's meeting at Apple's headquarters are likely focused on Cook's decision to fight a court order compelling Apple to help the FBI get information off an iPhone 5C used by a terrorist during the San Beardino, Califoia shootings last December.
Apple's stand against the US is its biggest legal battle since former CEO Steve Jobs accused Microsoft of copying the Mac's graphical user interface in 1988. Cook says modifying iOS in a way that to allow the FBI to access the phone's data creates a backdoor into to all iPhones. More important, Apple argues the order gives the govement "a dangerous power" over tech companies.
The FBI, led by Director James Comey, says its goal is to protect national security and argues the govement's request is limited to that single iPhone.
Cook received a standing ovation from shareholders gathered at the company's Cupertino, Califoia headquarters as he began the meeting. Apple's board members, including former US Vice President Al Gore and Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, watched the meeting from the front rows.
As usual, Apple didn't provide a video or audio stream of its annual meeting or a transcript of the event. Reporters aren't allowed in the auditorium with Apple's shareholders and executives, and are required to watch remotely via video in a separate room.
Apple's decision to challenge the FBI's request and a February 16 court order has received mixed reactions. The top-ranking members of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein (Democrat from Califoia) and Richard Burr (Republican from North Carolina) chastised the company for fighting the FBI, which is relying on the 227-year-old All Writs Act to compel Apple to modify its technology.
And while Apple faced off against rival Microsoft in the user interface case, the two tech titans are now on the same side. Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said at a Congressional hearing Thursday that the world's biggest software maker "wholeheartedly" backs Cook in his fight over a February 16 court order requiring Apple to bypass the iPhone's security features. Microsoft will file an amicus brief next week, detailing its support.
Facebook, Twitter and Google also said they'll file an amicus brief backing Apple as well.
Apple filed its response to the court on Thursday, a day before it was due and ahead of Friday's shareholder meeting. In the 65-page filing, the company says the order violates its constitutional rights.
"This is not about one isolated iPhone," Apple argued. "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."
A hearing is set for March 22 in federal court in Riverside, Califoia.
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