The high-profile battle between US tech giant Apple and the FBI rages on, as legal briefs are filed by some of the biggest names in tech including Twitter, Facebook and Google, as well as the victims’ families.

Two main coalitions have emerged, one of which includes Amazon, Facebook, Cisco Systems and Snapchat, another including industry giants eBay, LinkedIn and Twitter. The breadth of support across Silicon Valley in favour of consumers’ privacy is unprecedented and will undoubtedly present a strong opposition to the US government.

The legal briefs have advanced several arguments, including that Congress passed the All Writs Act more than 200 years ago, as well as contending that the US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994, along with other statutes, has set boundaries for what companies can and cannot be legitimately forced to comply with. Apple’s main argument is that the move would jeopardise the trust it has with its customers and create a backdoor for government agencies to access customer data, as well as setting a dangerous precedent globally.

The six relatives of the San Bernardino attack victims also filed briefs on Thursday opposing Apple’s argument, alongside three California law enforcement groups, three federal law enforcement groups and the San Bernardino district attorney.

The FBI have asked Apple to create a method to circumvent standard iPhone security measures in place on the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, the gunman behind the San Bernardino terror attack in which 14 people were killed. Currently no way to do this exists, and Apple say that complying with the FBI’s request endangers the personal information of its millions of iPhone users.

04/03/2016