The Apple letter to customers couldn't happen under proposed UK law
Apple did not want to make this public, and would have been quite happy to give the FBI what it wanted under seal. It was the FBI that actively wanted to make this public, ostensibly to establish legal precedent. See <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11131866" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11131866</a>