A highly anticipated hearing scheduled for Tuesday over the request made to Apple Inc. by the Justice Department for helping unlock an iPhone belonging to a terrorist was postponed by a federal magistrate judge. This is because the government stated that they may have found another way to gain access to the contents of the phone. The government made a filing with the US District Court in Riverside California. The filing stated that on Sunday an ‘outside party’ had given a demonstration to the Federal Bureau of Investigation of a possible method that could be used for unlocking the iPhone.
The phone in question belongs to Syed Rizwan Farook, who carried out a terrorist attack in San Bernardino California with his wife in December, which claimed the lives of 14 people. The government stated that the method is yet to be tested, but if it works, they will not need the assistance of Apple for getting access to Mr. Farook’s phone contents. Made less than 24 hours before the hearing was scheduled, this sudden hearing is the latest twist in a high profile legal battle between the most valuable company in the world and the Justice Department. The case has been watched very closely because it deals with a very important question in this digital age; how to strike a balance between national security and privacy.
In a court filing on March 10, the Justice Department had stated that the government would be unable to search Mr. Farook’s phone without Apple’s assistance. However, a number of information security experts were doubtful of this claim and suggested that there were various ways data could be extracted from the phone by the investigators that didn’t require Apple’s help. Some experts were of the opinion that this casts doubt about the assertions made by the government and their credibility has now suffered.
According to a law-enforcement official, the ‘outside party’ doesn’t refer to someone within the US government, which means it is not an intelligence agency. It was also highlighted that the Justice Department is optimistic about the method working. A couple of hours before this announcement, Apple held an event for introducing a new iPhone where Tim Cook, the CEO said that it is the firm’s responsibility for protecting its customers’ privacy and data and also said that it was essential for them to take a stand on refusing the order imposed by the government.
Mr. Cook said that they wouldn’t shirk their responsibility because it is their right to decide how much control the government has over their data. Even if the Justice Department is able to unlock the phone without Apple’s assistance, it is highly likely that they will clash again in the future. Valuable information is being stored in smartphones by everyone, which includes criminals and this makes it important for investigators to get access to it. This has also made it necessary for Apple to keep the hackers at bay. There are a dozen other cases where Apple has been asked to unlock phones by federal prosecutors.