WEST HARTFORD -- They didn't have any signs or major crowds, just two guys with an iPad and an iPhone, but a message was still sent.
"I didn't know how many people were going to show up, but I figured if it was just one, one is enough to make a statement," said Dan DeLuca, of Meriden.
He and Michael Sherber, of Avon, met outside the Apple Store in Westfarms Mall in West Hartford Tuesday evening to hold a quiet rally in support of Apple's defiance of an FBI order to break into the security of its iPhones in the terrorism case from the San Bernardino shooting.
"I'm concerned about my freedoms taken away from me and other people in America," said DeLuca.
The Associated Press has learned that Apple will tell a judge this week in legal papers that its fight with the FBI over iPhone encryption should be kicked to Congress, rather than decided by courts.
Apple will also argue that a court order to help it hack into an iPhone in a terrorism case is improper under an 18th century law that's been used to compel companies to provide assistance to law enforcement in investigations.
Apple has resisted providing a piece of programming that would help the FBI access the phone. Apple argues that governments, both in the U.S. and overseas, are likely to use the program in other cases, undermining data privacy.
In an interview Tuesday with the Financial Times, Microsoft founder Gates said, "This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information." He likened it to the police getting records from a phone company.
The heads of many tech companies, like Facebook, Twitter and Google, have sided with Apple.
Protests were held at Apple stores all over the country at 5:30 p.m. local time in a show of solidarity with the company's legal stance.
"That's the difference between a civilian and a citizen," said Sherber. "A citizen stands up when they see something wrong, when they see their government doing something wrong, that's my obligation as a citizen."