Left to Our Own Devices

Medium co-filed an amicus brief yesterday supporting Apple in its refusal to create custom code for the FBI that would weaken iPhone security. This brief was a joint effort with 16 other Internet companies, including Automattic, Reddit, LinkedIn, Kickstarter, GitHub, and Twitter. Combined, over a billion people use our products and services.

What does the FBI want Apple to do?

Granting the FBI’s request, the court ordered Apple to write custom code that allows the FBI to brute force open an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

The custom code would update the phone’s OS to do…