We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good. Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.
Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.
The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.
Boldfaced emphasis added by me.
This is what the government did to itself.
It shredded the Bill of Rights and vacuumed up — and still vacuums up — our information wholesale, without regard to our human right for privacy.
We can’t even walk the streets without our cellphones being tapped. This is something out of the old totalitarian East Germany.
Apple must say no. All tech companies must say no.
Mike Cane's Atomic Supermen 
Apple has been very consistent in saying “no” to government demands for a “backdoor” or “key” to unlock encryption. The silence of many tech companies on this issue is damning.
If that were not enough, the NSA is now asking companies who do genetic mapping to send copies of all their results. WTF?
The US appears to be lurching toward something similar to Rhodesia when Smith was running the place. I am glad I selected Canada and not the US as a place to live.
FYI, here is the FBI demand in PDF form.
oops — here’s the link to the PDF: http://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2714001/SB-Shooter-Order-Compelling-Apple-Asst-iPhone.pdf