(CNN) Apple is opposing a judge’s order to help the FBI break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, calling the directive “an overreach by the U.S. government.”
A public letter, signed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and published Tuesday, warns that complying with the order would entail building “a backdoor to the iPhone” — “something we consider too dangerous to create.”
“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals,” the letter said.
Such a move would be an “unprecedented step,” threatening the security of Apple’s customers, it said.
“No reasonable person would find that acceptable.”
The letter called for a public discussion on the order, saying the company was “challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country.”
“We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications,” the letter said.
The standoff is the latest flashpoint in an intensifying debate between law enforcement and the tech industry over encryption.
A judge in California ordered Apple on Tuesday to help the FBI break into the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in the December shooting. The couple, radical Islamists who supported ISIS, later died in a shootout with police.
Apple’s operating systems included an auto-erase function that, when enabled, would result in the information on the phone being permanently wiped after 10 failed attempts at inputting the passcode, the government wrote in documents seeking the order.
“We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone unturned as we gather as much information and evidence as possible. These victims and families deserve nothing less,” Eileen Decker, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement in response to the court order.
“The application filed today in federal court is another step — a potentially important step — in the process of learning everything we possibly can about the attack in San Bernardino.”
Apple said the FBI had requested that the tech giant produce a new version of the iPhone operating system that circumvented key security features to install on Farook’s phone.
“In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession,” Cook’s letter said.
