Zuckerberg expresses support for Apple in the San Bernardino phone dispute

Where this statement fits

Was Apple right to refuse to create software to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone?

On February 16, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple to help the FBI get past the security features on an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015, for example by supplying software that would disable the phone's auto-erase function and let investigators try passcodes electronically. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the same day that the company would oppose the order because that software would be a backdoor that could be used on other iPhones; the Justice Department moved to compel Apple on February 19, and Apple moved to vacate the order on February 25. FBI Director James Comey said the bureau wanted only a chance to guess the passcode, not a master key; on Apple's side, Microsoft and 14 other technology companies and the Center for Democracy & Technology filed briefs on March 3, and the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch also backed the company. On March 28, the government told the court it had accessed the phone's data and no longer needed Apple's help, and on March 29 the court vacated the order and denied both sides' motions as moot without ruling on whether Apple could be compelled. The dispute is over whether Apple was right to refuse to create software that would help the FBI unlock the phone.