After the FBI was able to unlock an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino terrorist Sayed Farook, the Department of Justice dropped its case against Apple that would have forced the Cupertino phone maker to create a hackable version of iOS. Apple has responded with an official statement, saying the case should’ve never been filed in the first place.
Apple’s statement is as follows:
From the beginning, we objected to the FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government’s dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought.
We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated.
Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.
This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy. Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion.
A federal magistrate judge in February ordered the company to assist the FBI in unlocking an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Complying with that order would have forced the Cupertino firm to create a new variation of iOS that would have allow the use of brute-force attacks to bypass the four digit passcode used by Farook to lock his iPhone.
Apple resisted the order, as well as other federal efforts to allow access to similar devices, stressing that creating such a “backdoor” would set a dangerous legal precedent, allowing law enforcement agencies the leverage needed to use the same arguments in similar cases. The company also has expressed concern that such a modified version of iOS could end up in the hands of the bad actors, allowing them the same access to a user’s device, creating a whole new level of user privacy concerns.
