[matt4077]

That's bullshit.

Management has wide-ranging freedom to define what they see as the best course of action and nothing short of fraud is actionable in a court: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_judgment_rule.

In this case, the obvious defense would be that for a company such as Apple, the fees they charge the government for access are completely meaningless, compared to the damage the brand could suffer if they're found violating their user's privacy.

At 25$ each as mentioned above, these fees probably don't even cover the costs of having a lawyer take a quick look at it.