Apple lawyer Ted Olson talked with CNN Money's Laurie Segall about the dispute with the US government regarding an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, explaining that while tech companies should support authorities in such cases, creating a backdoor could set a dangerous precedent for everyone in the industry.



Olson reiterated CEO Tim Cook’s words, who said that once the company creates software that can help the FBI break into the iPhone, it’s only a matter of time until it falls in the hands of the bad guys, thus putting all iPhone users in the United States at risk.
Furthermore, he emphasized that while companies should indeed collaborate with the government to stop terrorists, custom software to hack iPhones required by authorities is more of a decision that only a “police state” would come resort to.
“You can imagine every different law enforcement official telling Apple we want a new product to get into something,” Olson explained. “Even a state judge could order Apple to build something. There's no stopping point. That would lead to a police state."”
“We have got to stop someplace, we cannot break someone's back to get them to tell somebody where somebody else is. So if we're saying there's a serious threat, throw out the Constitution in order to prevent that threat, where do we draw the line?”
The hacker-proof iPhone Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said earlier this month that while the company worked together with the FBI to provide all the available information on the iPhone used by San Bernardino attackers, helping the feds break the iPhone is a thing they simply can’t agree with because of the security risks it creates.
Cook is set to testify in front of the Congress on March 1 together with the FBI director, as the company has already filed a formal response to the court order in order to oppose the ruling.
Olson has concluded by saying that Apple is constantly working on new ways to improve the security of iPhones. Rumor has it that Apple is developing a hacker-proof iPhone that could not be broken into with the existing methods that are required by the FBI.
“It is not Orwellian here, you know, where big brother can see anything you want. Apple's constantly trying to improve its iPhones to serve you, the public - and the hundreds of millions of people that trust Apple to do this - to provide security so that people can't hack in and find out where your children are, or what your medical records are. So if Apple continues to do that, it's just a point at which the government just can't get into your soul,” Olson adds.