AT&T files legal brief in support of Apple, while Samsung and others remain on the sidelines

More than three dozen tech companies have filed legal briefs on behalf of Apple in its battle with the FBI over encryption. But very few carriers and smartphone vendors are going out on that limb.

The New York Times -- among many other outlets -- reported that Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and other heavy-hitters have submitted more than a dozen briefs this week to the Federal District Court for the District of Central California, "challenging every legal facet of the government's case, like its free speech implications, the importance of encryption and concerns about government overreach." But a Re/code account of Apple's backers this morning lists AT&T as the sole carrier to have submitted a brief on the topic. And Bloomberg reports that while Samsung said customer privacy is "extremely important," it hadn't decided whether to file a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of its rival Apple.

U.S. carriers were initially slow to back Apple's controversial stance, although Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam last week issued a statement supporting the iPhone maker. But it's far from certain whether more major wireless players will officially support Apple by filing briefs on its behalf. Article