What Apple revealed about the surveillance state's big weakness

What happens when the government isn't a big customer?

While Apple continues to fight for privacy other companies may not.
(Image credit: Elly Walton/Ikon Images/Corbis)

Modern technology has long made for an uneasy coexistence between American business and American government. And on Tuesday, the FBI chose to pick a legal fight with Apple that could upend that already fraught relationship.

There's also a hidden irony: Libertarians and fans of limited government will no doubt cheer Apple's refusal to comply with the surveillance state. But one of the reasons tech companies often acquiesce to government pressure is something else cheered by limited government fans: lower government spending and a reliance on the private sector.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.