A New York judge has sided with Apple in what could become a test case affecting the high-profile legal wrangle currently raging between the consumer electronics company and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation over the potential unlocking of a dead terrorist’s iPhone
Syed Rizwan Farook opened fire in December’s San Bernardino, California, attack, killing 14 people. He was later himself killed.
The New York case concerns a separate event, but with strikingly similar principles, including whether Apple can be forced to help investigators extract data from a locked phone involved in a drug dealer case.
The ruling, which could shape the broader battle about privacy, security and technology, comes one day before the FBI and Apple’s lawyers are due to face off before Congress.
Magistrate Judge James Orenstein rejected the Justice Department’s argument that the 18th century All Writs Act gives prosecutors the authority to compel Apple to help investigators bypass the passcode-protection system on an Apple iPhone seized in an investigation.
He said the critical issues of 21st century privacy and technology should be decided by lawmakers, not reliant on an archaic law. (That might cut some ground from under Apple’s argument in the San Bernadino case that its refusal to open the shooter’s iPhone is in line with the 1789 First Amendment to the US Constitution, which says among other things that compelled speech – which Apple takes to include computer code – is illegal).
While the New York ruling over te unlocking the phone of a drug dealer is the first of its kind, it is certain to be reviewed by appeals court judges, and both sides are preparing for the issue to eventually reach the Supreme Court.
A senior Apple executive called yesterday’s ruling “thoughtful and cogent”, while a Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency was “disappointed” in the decision and plans to ask a district judge to review it.
In the California case, prosecutors want Apple to write a specific piece of software that would disable certain security features on the phone, thereby enabling the FBI have unlimited guesses at the passcode until they come up with the right combination. As things stand, if 10 guesses are unsuccessful all information on the phone is trashed forever.
