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Twitter, Facebook support Apple in its fight with the FBI

Other tech companies are speaking up about the potential downside of being forced to weaken security.

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As Apple CEO Tim Cook insists that his company should not be forced to help the FBI weaken security on an iPhone (Not sure why that matters? Get an explanation of the key issues here.), a few more companies have stepped forward in support. Yesterday Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a carefully-worded statement, followed today by a statement from Facebook to USA Today, and a one-liner from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Facebook said that requirements to weaken security would create a "chilling precedent," while Dorsey simply said that he stands with Cook and Apple.

So far we haven't heard from some other companies, like Microsoft, although a company spokesperson linked to a statement by the Reform Government Surveillance industry group that says "technology companies should not be required to build in backdoors to the technologies that keep their users' information secure." That group counts (Engadget's parent company) AOL, Apple, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo among its members.

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