A congressional panel has been created to hear the two warring factions in relation to the court order that is forcing the tech company to provide the spy agency data from an iPhone that was used by a San Bernardino shooter. Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook, and privacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have said they’re also going to submit amicus briefs on Apple’s behalf by the March 3 deadline.
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Citizens’ rights are protected by an independent judiciary, he noted, citing a longstanding principle that “if an independent judge finds reason to believe that certain private communications contain evidence of a crime, then the government can conduct a limited search”.
The All Writs Act is likewise being conjured in the battle about an iPhone in the San Bernardino shooting, which has freely set Apple against the administration.
The notification – which said it was being filed “in an abundance of caution” – comes three weeks before federal prosecutors and Apple attorneys argue their case in-person before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym.
The All Writs Act broadly says that courts can require actions to comply with their orders when not covered by existing law. Apple’s top lawyer, Bruce Sewell, is expected to testify Tuesday afternoon.
The US government’s argument does not justify “imposing on Apple the obligation to assist the government’s investigation against its will”, the judge said.
Comey acknowledged Tuesday there “was a mistake made” shortly after the San Bernardino attack, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked the county – which owned the phone – to reset the password for Farook’s iCloud account.
“We can all agree this is not about access to just one iPhone”, Sewell said.
Both cases, including the drug case and the terrorist iPhone data issue, hinge on whether an old law written long before the computers came in could not be used to force the tech company to hack into someone else’s phone. We don’t put up billboards that talk about our security.
Comey told lawmakers anxious about setting a harmful precedent that law enforcement’s job may be crippled by “warrant-proof spaces” that become inaccessible to investigators. You haven’t told us one thing about what you do like.
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Earlier this week, a federal judge presiding over a separate, drug-related case in Brooklyn, New York, said federal authorities have no legal authority to force Apple to break into an iPhone. He said Apple is in an “arms race” with cyber criminals and hackers and that it needs to develop strong encryption to protect its users.
