Ted Olson, the legendary lawyer hired by Apple to represent it in the company’s battle against the FBI, warned that the government’s demand to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone will have wide ranging implications, and could possibly create a police state.
In an interview this morning, Olson said that if the FBI wins it would create an avalanche of requests from both federal and state courts to unlock iPhones in other cases that prosecutors believe may possibly contain evidence that could be used against the owner.
“You can imagine every different law enforcement official telling Apple we want a new product to get into something,” Olson told CNN. “Even a state judge could order Apple to build something. There’s no stopping point. That would lead to a police state.”
Olson explained that the constitution of the United States limits the ability of the government to invade citizens’ privacy and that the company is drawing the line on what it can request of companies.
“You as a private citizen are allowed to write on a piece of paper and then burn up that piece of paper where your notes are,” said Olson. “There are some limits to what the government can do. It is not Orwellian here, where Big Brother can see anything it wants.”
Asked how far this case will go and whether Apple would defy a Supreme Court order, Olson conceded that the end of the battle is still ‘a long, long way from that’ but that he can’t imagine Apple would defy a categorical ruling from the Supreme Court, which is where this case looks like its heading.
