The collision between Apple, the FBI and the US Government will step up tomorrow when a local judge considers the first stage of a legal journey that is likely to end up in the US Supreme Court.
Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym tomorrow will begin hearing arguments in the case, just over a month since she tentatively ordered Apple to unlock the iPhone 5C of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters in a terror attack that left 14 dead at a San Bernardino party
The judge is expected to hear four to five hours of argument and testimony, including from Apple’s chief encryption experts and FBI agents involved in the terrorism probe.
Her final ruling, which may not come this week, will be the first word from the courts but certainly not the last, given that both Apple and the government will appeal any decision she makes, according to the Silicon Valley Mercury News.
The SVMN says the Valley’s standoff with federal law enforcement over encryption has been moving toward this type of endgame for years. As companies including Apple have tightened encryption on devices like the iPhone, law enforcement has grown increasingly worried about being blocked from information that might solve crimes and help hunt down terrorists.
Apple has warned, however, that forcing a company to devise a back door to the security protections it has developed over years would “undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe.”
