IPhone Owners Split On Apple Resisting FBI Order To Hack Device
CUPERTINO (CBS SF) – A poll released Monday found more than half of Americans want Apple to cooperate with the FBI and hack the iPhone of a gunman in last year's San Bernardino shooting. Meanwhile, iPhone owners themselves are split on the issue.
In the Pew Research poll of 1,000 adults nationwide (.pdf), 51 percent said Apple should comply with the FBI's demand to hack Syed Farook's iPhone. Meanwhile, 38 percent of adults surveyed want Apple not to comply with the federal order over privacy and civil liberties concerns.
Among iPhone owners surveyed, 47 percent sided with the FBI on the issue, while 43 percent of iPhone owners sided with the Cupertino-based company in resisting federal demands. People who had smartphones that were not iPhones were less sympathetic of Apple's case, with 53 percent of those smartphone owners siding with federal authorities.
Pew Research also found that nearly identical shares of Democrats (55 percent) and Republicans (56 percent), said Apple should unlock Farook's iPhone.
On Monday, the dispute showed no sign of ending. In an email to Apple employees, CEO Tim Cook reiterated the company's refusal to cooperate with the federal order. Cook responded to a posting by FBI director James Comey that Apple owes it to the San Bernardino shooting victims to cooperate.
The poll has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.
