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Yeah, I mean it seems like the other commenter is implying that, at the end of the day, the government can't actually do anything to a big company. Clearly that's not true. The Us government has completely broken up companies, which is a heck of a lot more intrusive than forcing them to decrypt phones.

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> implying that, at the end of the day, the government can't actually do anything to a big company

I wasn't trying to imply this at all - of course the government can destroy companies.

What I was implying is that, given the past few years of heightened public awareness of domestic government programs and efforts, perhaps this time public pressure would be exerted on the government to lay off the issue. Apple is one of the most loved companies in the country, people would be very interested in knowing why it's suddenly being torn down.

I think he's arguing that government's power to destroy big companies is only as strong as the popular distaste for those companies.

A company like Apple, which is practically an icon of "everything America still gets right," would be a very politically dangerous target to go after.

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