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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Bill Gates has sided with the FBI [npr.org] in the dispute over the unlocking of a "specific" iPhone, breaking with other technology industry leaders:

Apple should comply with the FBI's request to unlock an iPhone as part of a terrorism case, Microsoft founder Bill Gates says, staking out a position that's markedly different from many of his peers in the tech industry, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The two titans aired their views on what's become a public debate over whether Apple should be compelled to unlock an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

"This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case," Gates told the Financial Times [ft.com].

Consumers who are concerned about the case are planning to hold demonstrations [fightforthefuture.org] at Apple's retail stores in 40 U.S. cities as well as at the FBI's headquarters in Washington Tuesday.

Gates' remarks were published shortly after Zuckerberg also addressed the controversy, in a speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. "We're sympathetic with Apple on this one. We believe in encryption," Zuckerberg said, according to re/code [recode.net]. "I expect it's not the right thing to try to block that from the mainstream products people want to use. And I think it's not going to be the right regulatory or economic policy to put in place."

Gates' views set him apart from the public stance his company has taken. As part of the Reform Government Surveillance coalition [tumblr.com] – a group of technology giants that also includes Apple and Facebook – Microsoft joined a statement that acknowledges the challenges and goals of law enforcement, and also states, "But technology companies should not be required to build in backdoors to the technologies that keep their users' information secure."

[...] A new poll by the Pew Research Center [npr.org] has found that 51 percent of Americans think Apple should cooperate with the FBI, 38 percent say Apple should resist the order, and 11 percent aren't sure.

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