iPhone解锁案：苹果身后的支持者

17家科技公司联名提交了一份诉讼案情摘要，支持苹果拒绝美国联邦调查局（FBI）解锁死亡恐怖分子的iPhone的要求。

这些公司中包括许多硅谷巨头，如eBay、LinkedIn和Twitter。他们联合提交的非当事人意见陈述认为：“政府调查部门没有法律依据”来强迫苹果解锁iPhone。他们表示，要求苹果解锁手机会“威胁到构建互联网秩序基础的隐私、安全和透明的核心原则”。

联邦调查局希望让苹果开发新的软件，破解手机的安全保护，从而帮助调查者获得圣贝纳迪诺（San Bernardino）枪击案凶手的数据。苹果以政府、黑客和罪犯可能会滥用这种工具为由，拒绝了这一要求。

AT&T和英特尔（Intel）的高管在周四分别发表博文，在这场辩论中站在了苹果的一边。据《财富》杂志了解，Box和Mozilla则将加入谷歌（Google）、Nest Labs、Facebook 、WhatsApp、Evernote、Snapchat、微软（Microsoft）、雅虎（Yahoo）等公司，联合提交诉讼文件。

Box的共同创始人和首席执行官艾伦•列维在一份声明中表示：“让苹果破坏或削弱安全性能，有损我们在数字时代对科技的集体信任。相反，我们需要展开一场公开、公共的对话，来讨论如何帮助我们一起应对隐私和安全的权利平衡。”

签署非当事人意见陈述的其他机构还包括Airbnb、Atlassian、Automattic、CloudFlare、Github、Kickstarter、Mapbox、Medium、Meetup、Reddit、Square 、Squarespace、Twilio和Wickr。他们表示：“从本质上来说，政府在这起案件中的需求超出了任何法律的适用范围。此外，强迫一家公司降低自己的安全性能，对安全领域的所有投资都起到了抑制作用：各公司精心设计的安全系统会不会因为法院的要求而被迫修改？他们对此没有信心。

包括甲骨文（Oracle）、IBM、Autodesk和Salesforce在内的行业贸易组织商业软件联盟（Business Software Alliance）同样站在了苹果一边。消费技术协会（Consumer Technology Association）、互联网协会（Internet Association）、互联网基础设施联盟（Internet Infrastructure Coalition）、计算机与通信行业协会（Computer & Communications Industry Association）、信息技术工业委员会（Information Technology Industry Council）等许多其他贸易组织和非盈利机构也是如此。

据《今日美国》报道，支持FBI观点的机构包括执法机构、律师协会等，而T-Mobile、Sprint和威瑞森（Verizon）等电信巨头还没有表明自己的立场。

正如人们所料，许多反对联邦调查局请求的案情摘要，都将矛头对准了政府对《全令法案》（All Writs Act）的使用。执法机构援引这项已有一个多世纪之久的法案，来证明自己搜查的合法性。反对者引用了滑坡谬误来支持自己的观点。他们害怕执法机构一旦获取迫使公司重新设计系统，以削弱安全措施的权利，将会“后患无穷”。

Twitter在提交的文件中表示：“政府的要求可能会开创一个先例，被用于在将来要求阿米西（Amici）或其他公司提供可能会破坏自身产品的技术支持。至少，一旦苹果遵照命令，撰写了破解代码，政府就可能会试图要求苹果一次又一次地使用这样的代码。”

作者继续写道，联邦调查局的法庭判令“要求法院去做国会拒绝做的事情。但《全令法案》不能让政府获得国会不愿意提供的权利。”

美国司法部（The Department of Justice）并未立刻针对此事做出评论。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

A coalition of 17 tech companies has filed a legal brief supporting Apple in its fight against the FBIover access to a dead terrorist’s iPhone.

The members, which include many of the biggest Silicon Valley companies including eBay EBAY 0.93% , LinkedIn LNKD -2.15% , and Twitter TWTR 4.15% , submitted a joint amicus brief that argued that “the government’s investigative arm has no legal basis” to force Apple to help unlock the iPhone. They said that requiring Apple to unlock the phone “threatens the core principles of privacy, security, and transparency that underlie the fabric of the Internet.”

The FBI wants to compel Apple to develop new software that would undermine the security protections on its phones so that investigators can access data of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple has refused by arguing that governments, hackers, and criminals could easily abuse such a tool.

AT&TandIntel separately took Apple’s side in the debate, as executives at both companies clarified in blog postson Thursday. Boxand Mozilla are set to file a joint submission alongside Google, Nest Labs, Facebook, WhatsApp, Evernote, Snapchat, Microsoft, and Yahoo, Fortune has learned.

“Asking Apple to break or weaken its security features undermines our collective trust in technology in the digital age,” Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box, said in a statement.“Instead, we need an open, public dialog focused on helping us collectively strike the right balance between privacy and security.”

Other signers of the amicus brief includes Airbnb, Atlassian, Automattic, CloudFlare, Github, Kickstarter, Mapbox, Medium, Meetup, Reddit, Square, Squarespace, Twilio, and Wickr. “The government’s demand here, at its core, is unbound by any legal limits,” they said. “Moreover, forcing a company to undermine its own security measures provides a powerful disincentive to invest in security: firms could have no confidence that their carefully designed security systems would not be redesigned by court order.”

The Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group that includes Oracle ORCL 0.34% , IBM IBM 1.10% , Autodesk ADSK 0.70% , and Salesforce CRM 0.53% , is siding with Apple as well. A number of other trade groups and non-profit organizations are doing so, too, including the Consumer Technology Association, the Internet Association, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition,the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and the Information Technology Industry Council. (A full list of official supporters is available here.)

Briefs filed in favor of the FBI’s view have included ones from law enforcement agencies, attorney associations, and others, while telecom giants such as T-Mobile TMUS 0.52% , Sprint S 6.67% , and Verizon VZ -0.44% have not yet clarified their positions, as USA Today reports.

As expected, many of the briefs filed in opposition to the FBI’s request take aim at the government’s use of the All Writs Act, a centuries-old search warrant law that the agency has used to justify its authority. Opponents cite a slippery slope argument, fearing that granting law enforcement the power to compel companies to undermine their security through system redesigns would be “boundless.”

“The government’s request would set a precedent that could be used in future cases to require Amici or others to provide technical assistance in a manner that undermines the very products they offer,” said the filing of which Twitter was a part. “At the very least, once Apple has written code to comply with the order, the government may seek orders to compel it to use such code over and over again.”

The FBI’s court order, the authors continue: “asks this Court to do exactly what Congress refused to do. But the Act cannot be invoked to grant the government powers Congress intentionally chose not to provide it.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately reply to Fortune’s request for comment.