An invented dialog about the U.S. v. Apple iPhone decryption case.

UNCLE SAM: Well, this is a fine ho-ja-do!

TIM COOK: How so?

UNCLE SAM: This reluctance of yours to cooperate with your government.

TIM COOK: The word, cooperate can be deceptive.

UNCLE SAM: Don’t be cute. You know what I mean. You refuse to cooperate with a court order.

TIM COOK: I refuse to cooperate with the dangerous implications of a court order.

UNCLE SAM: Look – this thing is straightforward. A dangerous, jihadist, married couple turn their home into an arms factory; blow away half a room of people; and then attempt to remotely bomb the place...

TIM COOK: Yes, yes, we know all the sordid details.

UNCLE SAM: No we don’t! The most sordid detail is your refusal to help us get into that iPhone they attempted to destroy.

TIM COOK: It’s not that simple. We’re not sure if we ourselves can get in. The problem is that, in the attempt, we could violate the privacy of innocent Apple customers.

UNCLE SAM: Or – more importantly – you might help us expose – through this last-chance method – Apple users who were in cahoots with that murderous couple.

TIM COOK: It’s a matter of weighing the priorities. Another way of putting it is, that risk of exposure could cause distrust among our client base.

UNCLE SAM: If you did a survey, I’m sure you’d find that your customers would be more interested in saving their asses, as opposed to the possible exposure of some, disinterested, benign aspect about themselves.

TIM COOK: As simplistic as that may sound, it does not take into account the binding, legal trust we have forged with our uncounted usership throughout the world. That may not be broken.

UNCLE SAM: I’ll tell you what may not be broken – your responsibility to protect your country against all enemies, foreign and domestic! Let me remind you of a piece of history, of which you obviously are aware:

TIM COOK: You’re not gonna go all Patrick-Henry on me, now, are you?

UNCLE SAM: No. This is a hell of a lot more recent than that – and a hell of a lot closer to you, personally, than you may wish to acknowledge.

TIM COOK: Ah-h-h! Now I see where we’re going.

UNCLE SAM: During World War II, the British persecuted Alan Turing because of his sexual orientation. Turing’s scientific genius in the code decryption field, for all practical purposes, singlehandedly broke the U-Boat code, which allowed his country – and the world – to overcome the Nazi menace! Never the less, his country’s harassment was so severe that Turig injected an apple with strychnine and took a lethal bite. Although unsubstantiated, some believe that to be the origin of the Apple logo. Whether it is or not, it provides us with an interesting dichotomy: A man betrayed by his country bites an apple. Another man is praised by his country, but refuses it a bite of the Apple.