Google and Microsoft are backing Apple’s legal filing against the FBI

Google plans to follow Microsoft in throwing its legal support behind Apple in its increasingly contentious dispute with the federal government around the iPhone connected with San Bernardino terror attacks, according to sources. At a congressional hearing on Thursday, Microsoft’s legal chief, Brad Smith, said that the company plans to file an amicus brief next week in support of Apple’s resistance to helping the FBI hack the phone. Google will deliver its own supporting brief “soon,” according to sources familiar with the company. Apple’s standoff with the feds is growing more heated each day. Apple filed documents in court today asking a judge to throw out the order demanding the company assist the FBI in getting past the phone’s encryption. Apple has also asked its tech peers to stand behind the company. Google, which controls Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system, was the first tech company to publicly voice support for Apple when the case broke last week. CEO Sundar Pichai said the government demands set a “troubling precedent.”