Google and Apple, once enemies, unite thanks to the FBI
The fault lines dividing Silicon Valley's two most powerful technology companies shifted this week, however briefly, as Google was compelled to stand behind longtime rival Apple in its very public fight against the FBI.
A federal court judge ordered Apple this week to help the FBI unlock an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the gunman behind the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California last year, in the hopes of uncovering any information, however unlikely, that could help with the ongoing investigation.
Twelve hours after Apple CEO Tim Cook reignited a fierce public debate over privacy and security with a striking open letter challenging the FBI's demand to break into a mass shooter's iPhone, Google's CEO praised the letter as "important" and rebuked the FBI's demand as potentially setting a "troubling precedent."
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The long wait for Google's response, and the extremely careful wording of Pichai's statements, hint at the difficult position Google now finds itself in with this issue. You can almost hear the PR and legal departments laboring for hours on whether and how to respond.
In the end, Google chose to put out a statement in a series of semi-formal tweets from a top executive, rather than releasing an official press release, blog post or open letter similar to Cook's. Likewise, Microsoft, Facebook and other technology giants mostly stayed quiet throughout that first day and let an independent coalition they belong to speak on their behalf.
It wasn't until more than 24 hours later that Facebook and Twitter put out statements of their own -- and Twitter, like Google, only did so through its CEO's Twitter account.
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Google, like its tech peers, may be concerned that the court of public opinion is still undecided on Apple's privacy campaign and, perhaps more importantly, that they each have court cases of their own to worry about, according to industry watchers.
"Frankly, I suspect they all have court cases going and can’t be seen to comment in a way that could be seen as a comment on their own cases," says Fatemeh Khatibloo, an analyst with Forrester Research who focuses on privacy and consumer data issues.
Reps for Google did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
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Many of these technology companies also have sales relationships with government offices, which could be damaged by forceful public comments against the FBI.
Case in point: Just look at these two tweets from Microsoft execs, which were re-shared back-to-back by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this week.
The optics are also uniquely difficult for Google, among all of Apple's competitors.
For years, Apple's vocal stance on protecting user privacy has been defined largely in opposition to its chief rival, Google.
When Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs spoke up about the company's "very different" view of privacy back in 2010, he made sure to scoff at Google's unfortunate WiFi data collection incident.
Cook, his successor, has similarly slammed the business models of Internet companies who collect and make money off user data, without necessarily citing Google by name -- but hinting heavily.
Analysts argue the FBI's precedent here is potentially damaging enough to all technology companies that they feel compelled to overlook the usual rivalries.
"This is way too big of a debate to be considered in a competitive light," Khatibloo says. "If Apple is forced to do this, at the end of the day, it destroys so much of what Google and Microsoft and Facebook have built."
Google, Apple and others previously banded together to push back against the U.S. government in 2013 following leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden alleging that all the major tech companies had participated in a secret surveillance program.
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Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
