Cupertino, California, Mar 21 (EFE).– Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook vowed Monday that his company would not shirk its responsibility to protect its users’ privacy, calling it an issue that affects everyone.

“We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government. But we believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers and we owe it to our country,” Cook said at Apple’s spring product launch, referring to the company’s dispute with the U.S. government over access to an iPhone in a terrorism case in California.

“This is an issue that impacts all of us and we will not shrink from this responsibility,” Cook said a day before Apple squares off against the FBI in a hearing in federal court in Southern California.

The FBI wants Apple to help it unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in a Dec. 2, 2015, attack at a San Bernardino County public health department holiday party, where more than 14 were killed and more than a score were seriously injured.

Police found the phone inside the vehicle that Syed Rizwan Farook, an American citizen, and Tashfeen Malik, his Pakistani wife – both alleged supporters of the Islamic State – were using to flee police when they were shot dead.

Apple said in a letter to customers last month that the assistance the government wants would involve creating a new version of the iPhone operating system and installing it on the smartphone that was used by the shooter.

Under the current operating system, iPhones have a security system that erases their data if the passcode digits are not entered correctly after several attempts.

Federal investigators want that function deactivated so they are able to enter as many passcode combinations as necessary to gain access to the iPhone used by Farook and all the information it contains.

FBI Director James Comey told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee last month that the attempt to unlock the iPhone in the San Bernardino case would not affect the security of Apple’s products nor set a precedent.

But Cook has vehemently challenged that assertion, saying in the letter to customers that “once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices” and would be the equivalent of a “master key.”

Monday’s event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino began with a brief video in which the tech giant looked back at all the groundbreaking products the company has developed.

The CEO said the video was a reminder that Apple had changed the world on multiple occasions and noted that more than 1 billion devices manufactured by the company were in use worldwide.

“This is an incredible milestone for us, and an indicator of how much impact Apple has on people around the world,” Cook said, adding that “with that comes a significant responsibility.” EFE