The FBI has hit back at tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as the firm continues refuse to help in its attempt to hack an iPhone of one of the killers in the December mass shooting in San Bernadino.
Apple has rejected the call for help, with other including social media titans Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) quick to endorse its stance.
But on Sunday, James Comey, FBI Director, said: “Although this case is about the innocents attacked in San Bernardino, it does highlight that we have awesome new technology that creates a serious tension between two values we all treasure—privacy and safety.”
“That tension should not be resolved by corporations that sell stuff for a living,” he added.
Last week, the US District Court in Los Angeles ruled that Apple must provide "reasonable technical assistance" to investigators seeking to unlock the data on the phone, including bypassing the passcode protection function so they can attempt an unlimited number of password guesses, but the tech giant has remained resolute in its refusal.
Comey said: “We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it.”