Mr Gates has insisted that, were Microsoft in the position which Apple now finds itself in, it would comply with the order and offer assistance to the FBI. Apple chief executive Tim Cook has made headlines over the past week after indicating that the company intends to resist a court order that the company help the FBI override several iPhone security features by creating a software 'master key'.
Nothing new, says Gates
Mr Gates has dismissed Mr Cook's suggestion that building the software would do permanent damage to the privacy and security of iPhone customers. 'This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They're not asking for some general thing,' said Mr Gates. 'It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let's say the bank had tied a ribbon around the disk drive and said, 'Don't make me cut this ribbon because you'll make me cut it many times',' said Mr Gates.
Breaking ranks
Mr Gates' stance on the issue sets him apart from many of his A-league technology contemporaries. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Google boss Sundar Pichai have all come out in support of Apple in what famous whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden has described as 'the most important tech case in a decade.' However, Mr Gates' view of the issue may be more in-line with the broader public's reading of the squabble. A recent Pew poll found that 51 per cent of surveyed Americans felt that Apple should comply with the FBI request, while only 38 per cent said that they backed Mr Cook's stance. The balance of opinion becomes far narrower, however, when considering only respondents who themselves own an iPhone, to 47 per cent in favour of the hack and 43 per cent opposed. Sources: The Guardian; Financial Times; Pew Research Centre
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