Newsletter
Earlier today, reports began to come though that today was the day in which companies like Google and Microsoft would file their official motions in support of Apple. These filings are amicus briefs and look to identify the companies as a ‘friend of the court’. A move which officially lends their support to one of the two sides in the case the motion is filed towards. In this instance, this is in support of Apple’s stance to deny complying with a court order.
Just over a week ago was was when the first real indications began to surface that Google was likely to file a motion of support. However, with today being the deadline for when a brief can be submitted, very early in the day reports began to come though offering unofficial confirmation that Google and others were planning to file their motions before the day was out. To confirm, that has now happened as Google is now confirmed as one of the companies who has filed their amicus brief as part of a joint brief along with Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, Dropbox, among others. While there is a large number of companies forming the basis for this brief, the last few hours has seen an almost unprecedented and non-stop number of briefs being filed and again, from some of the biggest names in the mobile industry, including Twitter, AT&T, Reddit, eBay, and many many others. As this is the last day for submissions, it does seem that the biggest names have waited until the last moments to file, while various privacy advocacy groups having completed their filings yesterday. While the likes of AT&T and Twitter confirmations came through during the last couple of hours, it has taken until now for Google’s confirmation to make it down the wire.
Of course, it still remains vastly unclear as to whether these filing will have any impact on the eventual outcome of the case. However, the sheer volume of companies who have filed an official level of support today, does indicate that this will be seen as a very clear message from the tech community as a whole. One that clearly states that they do unreservedly support encryption.