Corey Blackman
February 23, 2016•Update: February 24, 2016
By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
The Justice Department wants to order Apple to unlock 12 devices, in addition to an iPhone used by an alleged perpetrator of a terror attack, according to court documents released Tuesday.
Federal investigators received court orders instructing the company to help the government bypass the encryption of 11 iPhones and iPads involved in cases in several states, none of which are related to the deadly attack in December in San Bernadino, California, that killed 14 victims.
The orders date to last September but were just unsealed Tuesday.
Apple continues a battle the FBI in court and in the press over the government’s request for a key to bypass security protocols on the iPhone of San Bernadino suspected gunman Syed Rizwan Farook.
The filing showcases how far and how often law enforcement agencies want Apple to assist in breaking the company’s own encryption.
According to company attorney Marc Zwillinger in the filing, agencies often demand that Apple “create and load Apple-signed software onto the subject iPhone device to circumvent the security and anti-tampering features of the device in order to enable the government to hack the passcode to obtain access to the protected data contained therein”.
Many in the tech industry, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, claim that building security loopholes for the FBI also opens up vulnerabilities to hackers.
But a survey released this week found that a majority of Americans believe Apple should comply with law enforcement.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he hoped the case would cause the government and Silicon Valley to have a “discussion”, backtracking on published comments in which he appeared to support the FBI over Apple.
