Yeah I don't think there's anything Apple could do but complete the request. Anything short of that would result in the dissolution of the company through daily fines from the government, which shareholders wouldn't like.

Apple could find someone to pay to complete the task, even if it required a significant raise. Don't suicide over nothing. Apple isn't.

Even if Apple did have to do this to survive, it wouldn't be the end of the tech world, it would just hurt a lot. And it wouldn't make us safer.

Regardless of the current judge's decision, this case will likely be in court for two years at bare minimum [1]

The pressing issue is whether or not Congress will eventually pass an anti-encryption bill. This would be a bad idea for our security and economy. We can help people understand this by a) allowing the bill to pass and watching idly as criminals change to use other encrypted communications software, hurting the IT industry in the process, or b) educating people

I'm interested in starting a grassroots campaign to do (b). If you'd like to help, email me at stillastudent on google's email service.

[1] http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-04/apple-and-the...

In some ways, it's a good thing that the FBI decided to take it public, where Apple could effectively argue their side. Though this has been built on many small victories that has forced sunshine.