Apple pushes back against court order

This morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook published an open letter declaring the company’s intention to oppose an order from a US federal judge that would require Apple to give the FBI the tools to bypass the passcode on an iPhone owned by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

On Tuesday, federal judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple to build the software that would enable the FBI access into Farook’s iPhone.

By disabling the security features, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would be able to attempt as many different password combinations as needed before gaining access to the phone.

The move sets up a legal showdown between the company, which says it is eager to protect the privacy of its customers, and the law enforcement authorities, who say that new encryption technologies hamper their ability to prevent and solve crime.

He added, “Once Apple turns over, or if they’re forced to turn over this software to unlock their encryption, the government then has that for every Apple device”.

In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Sen.

In fact, experts say that complying with the government’s request wouldn’t be particularly challenging for Apple.

Feinstein appeared on PBS NewsHour Wednesday night to discuss the selection of the next Supreme Court justice.

“Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily”, prosecutors said. “The FBI is essentially asking for access to the contents of the phone”.

Company claims “unlocking” iPhone of San Bernardino shooter would be an “overreach” and violate the privacy of other users.

The government calls it a terror attack and believe there are important clues on Farook’s phone. If Apple creates a back door and uses it – even in this limited case – these consumers could possibly migrate to another operating system.

Investigators want you to think of your phone like your house. It has asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone. He said: “We have to use common sense”.

“It affects our counter-terrorism work”, he said. In January, Dutch police told Vice site Motherboard that they had broken the encryption on BlackBerry PGP devices – mobile phones that have an extra layer of built-in privacy protection.