Snowden Backs Apple on Refusal to Unlock Terrorist's Phone

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said Wednesday that Apple Inc. was right to refuse to comply with a federal court order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

He said on Twitter:

This is the most important tech case in a decade. Silence means @google picked a side, but it's not the public's. https://t.co/mi5irJcr25

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 17, 2016

The technical changes the @FBI demands would make it possible to break into an iPhone (5C or older) in a half hour. pic.twitter.com/v6GeFXXXBC

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 17, 2016

Snowden, who remains in Russia under temporary political asylum, stole thousands of pages of NSA classified information on its data-collection practices and released them into the public domain.