Tim Cook has published a heroic defense of American’s right to privacy in the face of a court order Apple has been served by the FBI:

The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer.

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

Apple is doing this because this is the right thing to do: there may be not a lot a stake in unlocking this particular phone, but the precedent that the government wants to set is clear. There’s a lot of excellent journalism you can find on this topic, and I may publish a round-up post with some analysis later. But for now, I want to be absolutely clear about my support for Apple and my condemnation of any technology company which doesn’t stand with Apple on this.