The San Bernardino iPhone case over Apple’s iPhone encryption may be over for now after the FBI managed to break into the iPhone 5c used by one of the shooters, but the same isn’t true for another high-profile case in New York. Bloomberg reports that the United States Department of Justice has decided to indeed continue its demand that Apple help unlock the encrypted iPhone 5s of an alleged drug dealer in the case.
The U.S. government is pressing a demand that Apple Inc. help it crack a drug dealer’s phone in Brooklyn, New York, even after it said it successfully accessed a California shooter’s iPhone without the company’s help.
The decision comes after a magistrate judge in New York decided back in February that the government cannot force Apple to unlock the iPhone, something Apple has argued would require creating a new version of its iOS software that would put all its customers at risk.
Then last month we learned that the DOJ would indeed be continuing to pursue the court’s help in mandating that Apple unlock the iPhone in question against its will despite the previous ruling. It was unclear, however, if the development of the FBI unlocking the San Bernardino iPhone would spill over into the New York case and make the court case unnecessary.
The FBI has since said as much that the exploit used to access the San Bernardino iPhone is only effective against the iPhone 5c (and presumably earlier) and not the iPhone 5s and later, which includes a Secure Enclave that increases hardware and software security.
Today’s development that the Department of Justice will indeed push forward on going through the court system to require Apple to unlock a different encrypted iPhone seems to validate the FBI’s statement.
According to Buzzfeed News, Apple has one week to respond to the latest request to unlock the encrypted iPhone, although at this rate we can all assume what its response will be:
Apple can respond by April 15, and the government can reply in the case by April 22.
When asked if the judge will be skeptical of the DOJ, in light of the San Bernardino developments, the law enforcement official said, “I’d rather not speculate on what the judge might say.” The official also declined to provide any details on what outside parties the Justice Department contacted to help access the device.
While this case doesn’t seem to be quite as heated as the San Bernardino iPhone controversy, the same principles apply and it’s clear that the debate over encryption, privacy, and security isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. We’ll continue tracking the case.
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Everyone was saying the FBI understood they can’t win. I don’t think they understood anything :)
Whatever happens, it would be good for Apple to get the maximum possible publicity out of this request because some people imagine that all iPhones are now vulnerable to the FBI, where in reality it was only an older model that they were able to access and all current iPhones remain secure against that tool.
To quote that mid-60’s song, “The Beat Goes On . . .”
It’s just an inevitability the the DOJ / Local Law Enforcement will continue to try to force Apple to do what they are constitutionally NOT REQUIRED to do.
Expect the “Patriotic Americans” (trolls) to post up about this one.
lmao the last person I would care about busting, a drug dealer. How about the government stops spurring violent activities that are a direct result of laws made out of opinions that individuals do not control their own bodies and what goes into them?
I have to agree! If we have Pro Choice which is all about a persons body, even though I think it’s worse, MURDER of a child who didn’t ask to be conceived in the first place, all making drugs illegal as done is make it more costly, more crime, and filling up the jails making worse criminals. Put it this way, how would gangs go about selling drugs to people if you can just go to a store and buy whatever you wanted? When Alcohol was made Illegal, it didn’t just disappear. it just was made a little harder to get, more expensive, and hidden out of site. Yet there were place’s open for business selling the stuff even to the police, Mayor and other government officials. It also created a lot of crime and crime lords like Al Capone.
Alcohol I think is just as bad if not worse. I don’t see how you can ban one and allow the other. I can buy all the Alcohol I want, yet rarely drink. Once in a while a beer or 2 at someone’s house, but I have beer at home that’s 2+ years old just sitting there and I haven’t touched it. Instead I generally drink some soda, but mostly water. I’ve smoke some buds in the past a few times. That just doesn’t hold much interest to me either. Call it self control, or just don’t care. Don’t need it. Illegal or not, doesn’t change anything.
We’ve had the War on Poverty and it’s worse. The War on Drugs, it’s no better. It doesn’t work. People are who they are and the Government can’t really change that. Just end up throwing more and more people in jail.
Drug Dealers would disappear overnight if drugs were legal. I say allow anything and everything!!! There should be no behind counter drugs needing a prescription either. Allow anyone who wants whatever to buy it! It’s their body!!!
Well this will go nowhere – the judge already said that dumb 1800 law cannot be used to commandeer Apple to do anything
Encourage all companies to improve device security. The government, who cannot security its own house, now constantly trying to undermine security to subject us all to hackers. Open this door and it is open to all hackers as well as foreign governments.
There are billion iphone users and over billion android phone users. Can, one person tells me why FBI/DOJ keep asking Apple to unlock/hack/crack inside iphone and no news about FBI/DOJ asking to break into android phone ? Because, android phone is easily hackable, vulnerable and Google able to hack into any android phone ? We hear iphone is not hackable, very secured… Than why people buys android phones ? Because they are ignorant, UN-informed or dont’ care until their android phone is hacked and their bank account is gone ?
I think the FBI has asked for 9 Android phones to be unlocked. Most Android phones sold are low to mid range devices and they don’t have Hardware encryption. Something the iPhone has has since the 3Gs. So if you turn it on, on a android phone, you’re using Software Encryption and so you end up killing around 40% of the performance of the phone. Google wanted to make Encryption on by Default and many company’s complained abut that so Google changed their mind. Makes you wonder how many Android phones sold in the U.S. are the low end to mid range versions compared to high end Android phones with so few in this country that the FBI/Police want to get into.
Then again, it’s Android, a OS made by a ADVERTISING company, that’s all about spying on you and everything you do to sell targeted Ad’s to you!!! That’s how they make most of their money!!! All that free stuff they don’t give away out of the goodness of their heart. So Android users are for the most part a open book already. Not hard for the FBI to get anything they want. Hell they could just go directly to Google and get most all your Info without dealing with your phone.
This is great news. For starters only Apple can definitively answer whether any particular method is suitable to circumvent security on any of its products – this means the FBI will have to hand over the full details of how it gained access to the San Bernardino phone to Apple. Secondly it gives Apple a chance to once and for all get validation from the courts that the All Writs Act is non-aplicable in these cases. As others have said it will send a message to all current iPhone owners as well as future customers that newer iPhones are not easily hacked.
The DoJ has bitten off more than it can chew – so it’s going to be a spectacle watching it choke.
If this request is granted by the courts, what’s left of your meagre rights to privacy will have been withdrawn without having to rewrite the constitution. Fight it or forget about ever being a Democracy again.
I’m starting to think “conspiracy theorists” may be onto something.