Comey told the university audience that the case also inspired a lot of efforts to try to break into the phone – “everybody and his uncle Fred called us with ideas”. “If we tell Apple, they are going to fix it and we are back where we started from”, he said.
Advertisement
The FBI recently avoided a courtroom showdown with Apple by calling in the help of a third party when Apple refused to help access the iPhone data of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has also asked a court to order Apple to unlock another phone in connection with a drug investigation.
Representatives of the White House and Department of Justice weren’t immediately available for comment.
Comey said that the government is having internal discussions about if it should tell Apple about the workaround in its possession.
Comey added that the technique would not work on the iPhone 5S and the later models iPhone 6 and 6S. “This worked to open this one 5c iOS 9 phone, but it’s a bit of a technological corner case. We have a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones”.
“I can never be completely confident, but I’m pretty confident about that”. It was later revealed that the government had enlisted outside assistance to help them unlock the phone. “I have a high degree of confidence that their motivations are very good”, said Comey. According to CNN, Comey said in a speech that the method doesn’t work on all iPhones. The agency’s general counsel, James Baker believes: “it’s too early to say whether something valuable was found from the phone or not”. He asserted that the tool will be would be “closely protected” and the government authorities will use it “lawfully and appropriately'”.
However, such prosecutions would require the disclosure of evidence to defendants.
Now, thanks to the help of a third party, possibly the Israeli data retrieving company Cellebrite, the FBI cracked the phone involved in a federal case without the help of the tech company giant, and developer of the iPhone.
Advertisement
Director Comey revealed more information about the tool’s source on Wednesday. However, Comey said the “slippery slope” argument is a “fallacy”. The FBI has decided not to talk about the case until the investigation is complete.
