Judge rules for Apple in latest round in battle with FBI over encrypted iPhone

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Justice Department cannot use a 227-year-old law to force Apple to provide the FBI with access to locked iPhone data. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein’s ruling – while not binding on any other court – gives support to the company’s position in its fight against a California judge’s order that it create specialized software to help the FBI hack into an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino terrorism investigation. Orenstein belittled some government arguments, saying attorneys were stretching an old law “to produce impermissibly absurd results”.

As our prior court filings make clear, Apple expressly agreed to assist the government in accessing the data on this iPhone — as it had many times before in similar circumstances — and only changed course when the government’s application for assistance was made public by the court.

Justice Department spokeswoman

Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement: “This phone may contain evidence that will assist us in an active criminal investigation and we will continue to use the judicial system in our attempt to obtain it.” Husband and wife Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who claimed to be motivated by Islamic State, shot dead 14 people in California in December. Farook’s iPhone, says the FBI, may contain vital evidence to who he had been talking to prior to and during the attacks. During the case, Judge Orenstein said he found it puzzling that Apple had not previously resisted the use of the All Writs Act, including in other cases where Apple had complied with the order.

Apple FBI