“But we can’t look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don’t follow this lead”, he said, adding that new technology is creating a “serious tension” between the two values of privacy and safety.
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The Department of Justice, for its part, has accused Apple of putting its “marketing strategy” ahead of its legal obligations and has said Cook mischaracterised the government’s case.
Information on iPhones is encrypted, and a user’s passcode is needed to access that information. Larson said he was contacted a week ago by the U.S. Justice Department and local prosecutors about representing the victims, prior to the dispute becoming public.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has refused to comply with the order, calling it comparable to the creation of a “back door” and an “over-reach” by investigating authorities.
The FBI “simply” wants the chance to guess the terrorist’s passcode in a timely matter without the phone destroying its data from too many failed attempts, Comey said.
Apple said “the best way forward would be for the government to withdraw its demands” to unlock the phone.
Apple argues that while it is technically possible to bypass the security features of the iPhone by building a new operating system, such a move would set a risky precedent.
In the blog, which does not mention Apple or the iPhone by name, Comey says the agency doesn’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set loose a master key to devices like the iPhone.
The iPhone used by Syed Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in the December 2 rampage, was locked.
But Corney said he was only looking for access to the gadget used by the San Bernadino killer and was not interested in invading the privacy of every single Apple customer.
Cook wrote an open letter last week saying he would fight the Federal Bureau of Investigation over its demand to build a backdoor in the iPhone.
But FBI director James Comey, a long-time critic of digital encryption, wrote in a statement on the FBI’s website: “Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists”.
Apple will “gladly participate in such an effort”, according to Cook. But Farook’s most recent iCloud backup was created on October 19, meaning the phone is the only place where Farook’s most recent communications exist.
“Reflecting the context of this heart-breaking case, I hope folks will take a deep breath and stop saying the world is ending, but instead use that breath to talk to each other”.
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The phone at issue is an iPhone 5c issued to Farook by San Bernardino County in his role as a health inspector.
