eDiscovery Daily Blog
FBI May Be Able to Unlock Terrorist’s iPhone without Apple’s Help: eDiscovery Trends
In court on Monday, the FBI said that it might no longer need Apple’s assistance in opening an iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino, Calif., rampage last year.
According to The New York Times (U.S. Says It May Not Need Apple’s Help to Unlock iPhone, written by Katie Benner and Matt Apuzzo), in its court filing, the government said an outside party had demonstrated a way for the FBI to possibly unlock the phone used by the gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook. The hearing in the contentious case — Apple has loudly opposed opening the iPhone, citing privacy concerns and igniting a heated debate — was originally set for Tuesday.
In its filing, the Justice Department, while noting that the method must be tested, stated that if it works “it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple”. The Justice Department added that it would file a status report by April 5 on its progress. Judge Sheri N. Pym, the federal magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Central District of California who was set to hold the hearing, agreed to grant the Justice Department’s motion to postpone the hearing.
As the article notes, “The emergence of a potential third-party method to open the iPhone was a surprise, as the government said more than a dozen times in court filings that it could open the phone only with Apple’s help. The FBI director, James B. Comey Jr., also reiterated that point several times during a hearing before Congress on March 1.”
Last month, a federal judge ordered Apple to give investigators access to encrypted data on the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, a court order that Apple has fought, accusing the federal government of an “overreach” that could potentially breach the privacy of millions of customers. That same day, Apple CEO Tim Cook published an open letter, pledging to fight the judge’s ruling that it should give FBI investigators access to encrypted data on the device. And, the two sides have battled over the issue in court over the past month.
In the meantime, everyone from Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai to Donald Trump has weighed in on whether Apple should help unlock the iPhone for the investigation. In addition, Apple claimed that had the passcode to Syed Farook’s iPhone not been reset hours after the shooting (at the consent of the FBI), the company would have been able to initiate a backup of the phone’s data to its associated iCloud account in order to retrieve its contents. And, PCWorld reported that if San Bernardino County had been using a Mobile Device Management (MDM) service on its employees’ devices, they “would have been able to clear the device’s passcode in a matter of seconds” and the whole issue would have been moot (at least this time).
So, what do you think? Who is this outside party and will they be able to eliminate the dispute between Apple and the FBI or only delay it? Please share any comments you might have with us or let us know if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.