We Won’t Release iPhone Master Key (Promise!) — FBI to Apple

“It is about the victims and justice”, Comey said.

Syed Farook, a USA citizen, and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik in December gunned down 14 people at an office party in San Bernardino, California, before they were killed in a shootout with police. Speaking with The Financial Times, Gates endorsed the United States government’s position that a judge’s order to help investigators hack into the phone would not set a harmful precedent. The company has also launched a public FAQ page answering questions it has received about the government’s request and Apple’s security measures and stance on the issue.

The American Civil Liberties Union said last week that it’s on Apple’s side against “an unprecedented, unwise, and unlawful move by the government”.

Cook notes that many in the government want the security in iOS to be downgraded to how it was before iOS 8, when Apple could more easily access a user’s stored data if it wanted to.

In an article posted in the national security blog Lawfare, Comey downplayed fears about government snooping and privacy rights – and sought to frame the debate around the victims and survivors of the massacre.

The FBI “simply” wants the chance to guess the terrorist’s passcode in a timely matter without the phone destroying its data from too many failed attempts, Comey said. The director of the FBI, James B. Comey Jr., made the case in a public statement on Sunday. “We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land”, he wrote.

Cook’s message to employees had “Thank you for your support”, in the subject line. “The people who were in that room, the people that were shot, the people that lost loved ones – those people have a very real, present interest in knowing what happened and why and what information might be on that phone”, he said. Once that’s lifted, the Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to use “brute force” to crack the code, trying millions of combinations without fear of deleting crucial information. “Of course, Apple would do our best to protect that key, but in a world where all of our data is under constant threat, it would be relentlessly attacked by hackers and cybercriminals”.

“The only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn’t abused and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to never create it”, Apple said.

Apple is scheduled to file its first legal arguments on Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, who served as a federal prosecutor before being appointed to the bench, has set a hearing on the issue for next month.