DHAKA: Facebook’s chief executive has said he is sympathetic to Apple’s position in its clash with the FBI.

The FBI has ordered Apple to disable the security software on a dead murderer’s iPhone but the tech giant has refused.

Mark Zuckerberg said he did not believe the authorities should have backdoors to bypass encryption protection, reports the BBC.

However, a lawyer representing some of the gunman’s victims has backed the federal bureau.

Stephen Larson, a former judge, said he intended to file legal paperwork next month telling Apple to co-operate.

‘They were targeted by terrorists, and they need to know why, how this could happen,’ he added.

He declined to say how many of the victims he was representing, but did add that he would not be charging them a fee.

Zuckerberg made his comments at the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona.

‘I don’t think that requiring back doors to encryption is either going to be an effective thing to increase security or is really the right thing to do,’ he said.

‘We are pretty sympathetic to Tim (Cook) and Apple.’

He added that Facebook was committed to doing all it could to prevent terrorism but his company was in favor of encryption.

The social network had previously issued a statement saying that the court order could create a ‘chilling precedent’.

Leaders at Google and Twitter also voiced support for Apple last week.

BDST: 1322 HRS, FEB 23, 2016
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