Microsoft has come out and supported Apple Inc. in its ongoing struggle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning building a backdoor into its iOS. Microsoft had previously been quiet on the issue but the company President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith recently came out and said that Microsoft “wholeheartedly” supports Apple.

On Thursday Apple filed a motion against the FBI’s request to unlock a smartphone that had allegedly been used in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in which 14 people were killed and another 22 people seriously injured. Apple has said that the request is “unprecedented”, with CEO Tim Cook stating that the order would “undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”

Smith spoke at a congressional hearing concerning government demand for information and international data transfer laws , saying that “We at Microsoft support Apple and will be filing an amicus brief next week.” An amicus brief, or ‘friend of court’, is filed so that a party who has not been solicited by other parties – Apple in this case – can offer information and assist in the case.

“We do not believe that courts should seek to resolve issues of 21st century technology with a law that was written in the era of the adding machine,” Smith said. This is relating to the FBI citing the All Writs Act, a 1911 statute that has been used in similar cases before involving requests to gain access to electronic devices. To make his point Smith brought out a 1912 adding machine, echoing many people’s beliefs that if should Apple lose it would create a worrying precedent in terms of digital privacy.

Microsoft now joins other big guns in backing Apple, including Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg,  speaking at the Mobile World Congress conference in Spain, said,  “I don’t think requiring back doors into encryption is either going to be an effective way to increase security or is really the right thing to do.” At the same time Google CEO Sundar Pichai weighed in with a series of Tweets in support of Apple.

Photo credit: Ben Salter via Flickr