When murderers armed with semiautomatic weapons killed 12 people at a holiday party on the campus of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2, the nation was outraged and terrified. Though the traditional prayer vigils followed, the high body count and religious affiliation of the killers meant this would be no typical mass shooting.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a halt to Muslims entering the country – a call that found considerable popular support. The following month, President Barack Obama issued executive orders to, as the White House put it, “make our communities safer.”
In this charged environment, it seemed both sides of the aisle were willing to show their readiness to do something, meaningful or not, to stop future attacks.
But when the FBI asked Apple chief executive Tim Cook for very specific help in the San Bernardino investigation – unlocking an iPhone used by one of the killers – he said no. In the weeks that followed, Cook, dispensing with statements through lawyers and spokesmen to invoke the First Amendment in bold personal pleas, has become the leader not just of America’s most valuable company, but of a movement.
Rallies have been organized in some 50 cities in protest of the FBI’s demands. Organizations ranging from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the American Civil Liberties Union to Amnesty International have lined up in support of Cook.
“Apple is right to fight back in this case,” said a statement from Sherif Elsayed-Ali, deputy director of
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