Lynch Defends FBI Stance in Fight With Apple Over Suspect's Data

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

February 24, 2016 — 10:41 AM EST

Attorney General Loretta Lynch defended the U.S. government’s insistence that Apple Inc. comply with a judge’s order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, saying there’s ample legal precedent for requiring third parties to aid a search for evidence.

“If the government needs the assistance of third parties to ensure that search is actually conducted, judges all over the country and on the Supreme Court have said that those parties must assist if it is reasonably within their power to do so,” Lynch said in remarks prepared for delivery at a House subcommittee hearing on the Justice Department’s budget.

While not mentioning Apple by name in her prepared text, Lynch made it clear she was referring to the dispute between the U.S. and the iPhone maker. Citing privacy concerns, the company has so far has refused to comply with a judge’s order that it help the FBI gain access to the contents of an iPhone used by one of the two shooters in the December massacre.

“As we have seen recently, this is not a theoretical issue,” Lynch said. “We owe it to the victims and the public whose safety we must protect to ensure we have done everything under the law to fully investigate terrorist attacks on American soil.”​

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-02-24/lynch-defends-fbi-stance-in-fight-with-apple-over-suspect-s-data

[atreides1]

1. Of course she does

The DOJ wants Apple to provide them with a 'key', in other words the administration is using the courts to provide the FBI with free software...that way they won't have to fund their own research!

And then before we know it, every law enforcement agency in the country will have access to that free software...eventually it'll get into the wrong hands, because with our government, things always get into the wrong hands!

Once this Pandora's Box is opened, there won't be any way to close it!

If you look at the bright side, within a year or two, the entire world will know which members of Congress like to dress up like Dr. Frank-n-Furter...

[randome]

2. Wrong. They are not asking for a key. They want Apple to open the phone, that's it.

A phone is just a digital filing cabinet. No one asked Apple to put this kind of a lock on their phones. It's like someone burying a filing cabinet in a deep ditch and then saying, "Hey, don't look at me, I can't get to it."
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[William Seger]

3. It seems to me Apple's technical case is weak

What the DOJ is asking for is a customized version of iOS that will only run if the device ID matches Farook's phone. If the DOJ (or anyone else) doesn't have any ability to modify the firmware and still have it pass validity checks for installation, then they can't modify it to run on a different device. On the other hand, anyone who does have that ability wouldn't need any help from Apple to do what the DOJ wants them to do, so it wouldn't matter if Apple does it or not. I think what Apple is really worried about is a flood of such requests if they give in.