Gates disputed those reports, but he never states he doesn&#x27;t support the FBI in this case.<p>I think the key take away from that video is:<p>&gt; Gates: With the right safe guards in place there are cases where the government, on our behalf [...]<p>He also dodges the direct question about his position entirely.<p>He&#x27;s not trying to make his position very clear, but he is certainly angling to support the FBI&#x27;s position. Lots of references to terrorism in that interview.<p>Edit: from a PR perspective, this does make a lot of sense for MS: use a board member&#x2F;someone closely associated with them to probe the public&#x27;s position, then give the public some assurance to ensure they don&#x27;t all leave for Apple, while at the same time allowing the state to see that MS&#x27;s support of Apple in this case isn&#x27;t concrete.