Sundar Pichai responds to Apple case

Jillian D'Onfro 

Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai just weighed in on Apple's battle with the FBI, which has ordered Apple to help it unlock the phone of one of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last year in an apparent terrorist act.

In a series of tweets, Pichai wrote that although Google gives "law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders," that is "wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data," which could set a "troubling precedent."

Apple is fighting the court order mandating that it help the FBI unlock an iPhone that belonged to one of the shooters by creating software that would allow the intelligence agency to have an unlimited number of attempts to enter the phone's passcode before it auto-wipes.

CEO Tim Cook of Apple responded on Wednesday by calling it a 

"chilling" demand that "would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect." He's arguing that to help the FBI unlock the phone would basically be providing a dangerous "master key" and that the agency is essentially "asking Apple to hack our own users."

So Pichai's stance is, basically, we support Apple — we will give law enforcement data when we need to, but we will not put in a "backdoor" for the government.

Here's his full response: