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Second Nexus © 2019
[DIGEST: New York Times, NPR, Reuters]
Yesterday, a federal judge in California ordered Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attack that killed 14 people and injured 22 others. Late last night, Apple shot back.
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Judge </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-shooting-apple-idUSKCN0VQ02R" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sherri Pym</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles said Tuesday in an order that Apple must provide “reasonable technical assistance” to investigators trying to unlock the data on an iPhone 5C owned by Syed Rizwan Farook. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">were killed by police</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> after the couple attacked Farook’s coworkers during a holiday gathering last December.</span></p><p><div id="insticator-container" class="embedid-ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"><div id="div-insticator-ad-1"></div><div id="insticator-embed"></div><div id="div-insticator-ad-2"></div><script data-cfasync="false" type="text/javascript">Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-1");Insticator.ad.loadAd("div-insticator-ad-2");Insticator.load("em",{id : "ee1b1245-7f34-4d5c-8a70-c8be74fe7696"})</script></div></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzNTg1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MjY2OTMwNH0.o8NbYKNvipQb2gKft1psszyibxdv2M4vHtnSvkGnrWo/img.jpg?width=980" id="2a959" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba7c8dba6972096abc1e1aabb0d26680" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..."><a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22035850/origin.jpg"></a> Credit: <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/12/07/tashfeen-malik-syed-farook-entering-us-san-bernardino/" target="_blank">Source</a>.</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Around the time of the attack, Farook and his wife </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/17/467035863/judge-orders-apple-to-help-investigators-unlock-california-shooters-phone" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">destroyed two of their cell phones</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and removed a hard drive from their computer.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The order would require Apple to build special software that would act to unlock the phone—technology that </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">does not currently exist</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In particular, </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-shooting-apple-idUSKCN0VQ02R" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">assistance would include</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> disabling the phone’s auto-erase function, which activates after the user’s password has been entered incorrectly ten consecutive times, and also helping investigators submit password guesses electronically. “Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily,” said prosecutors involved in the case.</span></p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzNTg1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODc0OTQ2M30.iIb4pcElVL1ky9NcS95HWo-KS-Epd0zk1S27I6uksqk/img.jpg?width=980" id="c116d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d326fda2330a542699284de691fec94e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..."><a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22035853/origin.jpg"></a> Credit: <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/05/slide-to-unlock-invalid" target="_blank">Source</a>.</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a “</span><a href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">customer letter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” on Apple’s website, CEO Tim Cook publicly opposed the judge’s order and said it would contest it formally in court, citing to privacy issues and “implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”</span></p><p>“The government is asking Apple to hack our own</p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers—including tens of millions of American citizens—from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals,” </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">wrote Cook</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzNTg1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzgyMjU2N30.pYMeR7u1X8_4uIw8WqIRo0NxsEuWUo4O-qtD6CsW76s/img.jpg?width=980" id="8c7dc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8e517dbe4ca61592c884f65ef7c77e8c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..."><a href="https://assets.rbl.ms/22035852/origin.jpg"></a> Apple's Tim Cook. Credit: <a href="http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-new-apple-ceo-tim-cook" target="_blank">Source</a>.</small></p><p><a href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cook continued</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. . . . While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Justice Department, when asked about Apple’s resistance, referred to a statement by </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Eileen M. Decker</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the United States attorney for the Central District of California: “We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone unturned as we gather as much information and evidence as possible. These victims and families deserve nothing less.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This battle between privacy rights and victims’ rights is not likely to be resolved soon. The legal basis for the order–which relies on statutory interpretation of the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">All Writs Act of 1789</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">—may lead to complicated appeals and, ultimately, may wind its way up to the Supreme Court. </span></p>
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