The Apple vs. FBI case has sparked fireworks in recent days and for good reason. The FBI is relying on a 227-year-old statute called the All Writs Act to support its request for Apple to hack the San Bernadino iPhone that belonged to Syed Rizwan Farook, who, along with his wife, Tafsheen Malik, gunned down 14 innocent people last December at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. There are no prior cases where this Act has been used to force a US technology company to write software for the US government. Additionally, the San Bernadino phone request is not an isolated request. Rather, the government is asking the same thing for at least a dozen other phones.

Apple previously cooperated when the FBI asked for iCloud information, back up files, connected devices and toll records. However, Apple drew the line when the government asked its engineers to breach the security on a device that Apple intended not to be breached — ever.

At the heart of the case is the fine line between privacy and national security and the extent to which the government should force a business to innovate for the government. The case will have broad implications for privacy rights throughout the nation.

To watch Richard Dellinger discuss this case on Fox 35 News, click here.