Boston Rally: Pro-Apple Supporters Protest FBI Order

BOSTON, MA - Protesters rallied Tuesday in more than 50 cities across the country, including Boston, to support Apple’s refusal to develop software that would allow the FBI to access the encrypted data from the cell phone of a gunman who took part in the killings of 14 people in San Bernardino last year.

The group Fight for the Future encouraged people to gather at Apple stores at 5:30 p.m. The Boston rally, which took place at the Apple Store located at 815 Boylston St., saw about a dozen protestors.

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Protest signs read “Don’t Break Our Phones” and participants posted photos on social media under the hashtag #DontBreakOurPhones.

Fight for the Future campaign director Evan Greer told Patch the public’s response to the rallies has been encouraging.

Last Wednesday, Fight for the Future put out an experimental call to rally in San Francisco at 11:00 a.m and had dozens of people protesting by that evening.

“This is clearly an issue people care about,” Greer told Patch. “We had people involved who were just passing by and had never participated in a rally before.”

The rallies are in response to a letter to Apple customers written by Apple CEO Tim Cook last week after U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered the company to help the FBI access the password-protected phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, who was involved in the Dec. 2, 2015 shootings.

The letter stated Apple has “no sympathy for terrorists,” but is concerned that developing the type of software needed to unlock the data would put the privacy of other Apple users in jeopardy.

“In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes,” Cook wrote in the letter.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed court papers in Riverside on Friday seeking an order to compel Apple to comply with the earlier mandate. Federal authorities pointed out in the court papers that Apple already has the ability to access Farook’s phone data.

According to the court papers filed Friday, federal authorities suspect Farook, 28, may have used the iPhone to communicate with some of the people he and his wife, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, killed in the shooting.

Prosecutors also said their request will not be used to compromise the data of other iPhone users.

“The order requires Apple to assist the FBI with respect to this single iPhone used by Farook by providing the FBI with the opportunity to determine the passcode,” according to the court papers. “The order does not, as Apple’s public statement alleges, require Apple to create or provide a ‘back door’ to every iPhone; it does not provide ‘hackers and criminals’ access to iPhones; it does not require Apple to ‘hack (its) own users’ or to ‘decrypt’ its own phones; it does not give the government ‘the power to reach into anyone’s device’ without a warrant or court authorization; and it does not compromise the security of personal information,” the court papers read.

Fight for the Future plans to continue getting people involved through online protesting.

Photo via Fight for the Future