Apple has $38 Billion in liquid assets [1]. Facebook has $18 Billion [2]. Amazon has $20 Billion [3]. Alphabet (fka Google) has $73 Billion [4]. Microsoft has $102 Billion [5]. In the last quarter of 2015, the largest companies by market capitalization were Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft [6].
All of the companies I've mentioned have filed or joined in an Amicus Curiae brief in support of Apple [7]. If money mattered more than voters, then congress would have already passed a bill to satisfy the wishes of America's most financially successful company.
Why haven't they? Because money can only buy advertising and campaign staff. It can't buy votes and votes are what keep them in office.
Another take on this issue is that the FBI and NSA have a strong opposing interest. While they may not lobby in the same sense as Apple etc., they do represent law enforcement, which is an enormously powerful lobby in the US. So all those private companies are on one side, sure, but US law enforcement is on the other, and that's quite a fight (and one that law enforcement has been winning for a long time now).
But what is it that makes law enforcement a more powerful lobby? The average cop with several years of experience makes significantly less than an engineer straight out of college.
All of the companies I've mentioned have filed or joined in an Amicus Curiae brief in support of Apple [7]. If money mattered more than voters, then congress would have already passed a bill to satisfy the wishes of America's most financially successful company.
Why haven't they? Because money can only buy advertising and campaign staff. It can't buy votes and votes are what keep them in office.
[1] https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/cash_on_hand
[2] https://ycharts.com/companies/FB/cash_on_hand
[3] https://ycharts.com/companies/AMZN/cash_on_hand
[4] https://ycharts.com/companies/GOOG/cash_on_hand
[5] https://ycharts.com/companies/MSFT/cash_on_hand
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by...
[7] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2016/03/03Amicus-Briefs-in-S...