Apple lawyers plan to tell a judge this week that Congress, not the courts, should determine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation can force the company to unlock an iPhone. Apple will argue that the fight should be decided by Congress, where it spent $5 billion lobbying in 2015. He believes that with the “right safeguards, there are cases where the government, on our behalf, like stopping terrorism, which could get worse in the future, that that is valuable”.
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However, “in most cases, rather than challenge the orders in court, Apple simply deferred complying with them, without seeking appropriate judicial relief”, the prosecutors said.
And while the Justice Department is only asking the company to help unlock Farook’s iPhone in particular, it’s unclear if the software could be adapted to hack other devices. Apple is scheduled to file its first legal arguments on Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, who served as a federal prosecutor before being appointed to the bench, has set a hearing on the issue for next month. “A lot of the families of the victims, we’re kind of angry and confused as to why Apple is refusing to do this”. The DOJ is asking Apple to create code to break into its own security.
In a briefing with the Associated Press, lead attorney for Apple Theodore J. Boutrous Jr, who’s been called the “best of the best” by another corporate client, Wal-Mart, explained the company’s strategy.
“We’re also anxious that that key, once it’s created, could be a honeypot for hackers that might want to seek access to information or could be misused in many diverse ways”.
Gates added that society benefits from the government’s ability to investigate and thwart terror plots, although he acknowledged some rules are needed to protect information. He did clarify, however, that Apple is just waiting for a high court to “make clear what they should do”.
But there’s another person weighing in, the richest man in the world and co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates.
“The extreme view that government always gets everything, nobody supports that”, he told Bloomberg News. He laments the fact that Apple is fighting with the US government but says “data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people” is at stake.
“You don’t just want to take the minute after a terrorist event and swing that direction, nor do you want to completely swing away from government access when you have some abuse”, he said.
This Apple store sits on Fifth Avenue in NY.
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“The only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn’t abused and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to never create it”, Apple said.
