Shareholders back Tim Cook

The annual shareholder meeting was a striking scene of support for Apple CEO Timothy D Cook

Even before Timothy D Cook, Apple's chief executive, began his speech on Friday at the company's annual shareholder meeting, he got a standing ovation.

As Cook, 55, stood before the auditorium on Apple's campus, the audience - made up mostly of investors in the company - rose from their seats and applauded him.

"Where we stand in times of controversy is a measure of our character," said Jesse L Jackson, an Apple shareholder who attended the meeting. "Some leaders only follow opinion polls. Others stand up for their principles, refuse to compromise and mold opinion. We have such a leader of Apple, Tim Cook."

The meeting was a striking scene of support for Cook, who has led Apple into a battle against the United States government. The company is opposing a federal court order requiring it to help law enforcement officials break into an iPhone used by one of the attackers in last year's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

Apple is "a staunch advocate for our customers' privacy and personal safety," Cook said. "We do these things because they are the right things to do. Being hard doesn't scare us."

Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who was also at the meeting, said she applauded Apple's leadership in fighting for the security of customers. She said the foundation would file a brief supporting Apple's refusal to comply with the court order.

During the shareholder meeting, Cook also noted that Apple had released new versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems, which have the advanced security and encryption features that have frustrated the law enforcement agents who want access to data on Apple's devices.

©2016 The New York Times News Service