|
 Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook also sent a letter to employees
Monday morning, making clear the company's hardline stance refusing
to make software to unlock the phone addresses broader issues, not
just a single device linked to a grisly attack.
"This case is about much more than a single phone or a single
investigation," Cook said in the email to employees, seen by
Reuters. "At stake is the data security of hundreds of millions of
law-abiding people, and setting a dangerous precedent that threatens
everyone's civil liberties."
But FBI Director James Comey, in an article published late Sunday on
the national security legal blog Lawfare, asserted the case was not
about setting a new legal precedent but rather about "victims and
justice."
"Fourteen people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and
bodies ruined," Comey wrote. "We owe them a thorough and
professional investigation under law. That's what this is."
A federal judge last week ordered Apple to create new software and
take others steps to retrieve data from the locked phone, used by
Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, who was
killed in a gun battle with police.
 This move also received support from Microsoft Corp founder Bill
Gates, who said technology companies should be forced to co-operate
with law enforcement in terrorism investigations, the Financial
Times reported late Monday.
"This is a specific case where the government is asking for access
to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are
asking for a particular case," Gates told the Financial Times.
Gates' decision sets him apart from other Silicon Valley top
executives, such as Facebook Inc chief Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter Inc
founder Jack Dorsey and Google head Sundar Pichai, who have all
backed Cook's decision, the newspaper added.
The company is fighting the order, arguing that creating such a key
will jeopardize the security of all iPhones. The company's formal
legal arguments are expected Friday.
The Justice Department’s maneuvers over the past week have prompted
Apple supporters to suggest the case is as much about putting
political pressure on Apple and influencing the broader policy
debate on encryption as it is about getting data from Farook's
phone.
The Justice Department launched its unusually public campaign to
force Apple's hand by publicizing the court order itself, which
normally would have been under seal, according to legal experts.
Then, on Friday, the Justice Department filed additional court
papers that repeated its legal arguments and criticized the
company’s resistance as a “brand marketing strategy.” The government
acknowledged that the Friday filing was “not legally necessary.”
Apple responded hours later by holding a conference call with
reporters - a rare move by a generally reticent company that is
accustomed to making news rather than reacting to it. That was
followed early Monday by a public blog post and an internal email to
employees arguing the company's case.
Meanwhile, the government has actively solicited victims of the
shooting to join its case against Apple.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, destroyed their personal phones
before carrying out the Dec. 2 shooting rampage in San Bernardino,
California, which killed 14 and wounded 22. Authorities believe the
couple was inspired by the Islamic State. The phone at issue is an
iPhone 5c issued to Farook by San Bernardino County in his role as a
health inspector.
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DIGITAL SECURITY COMMISSION The case has revived interest on Capitol
Hill in pursuing legislation to address the problem of what law
enforcement officials call "going dark" - where tight digital
security prevents them from accessing the data of criminal suspects.
The idea of setting up a commission - which may be a prelude to a
broader legislative solution - is not new, although a political
resolution of the data privacy and encryption debate has proven
elusive for many years.
A digital security commission comprising technology, business and
law enforcement experts has been proposed by Democratic Senator Mark
Warner and Republican Representative Michael McCaul, who chairs the
Homeland Security Committee, to help break the impasse over
encryption.
The bipartisan pair is scheduled to unveil details of legislation
that would create a panel at a Washington event on Wednesday.
Apple indicated it would work with a commission or panel of experts
to discuss the matter further.
"Apple would gladly participate in such an effort," the company
wrote in the Monday post on its website addressing questions about
the case.
The company could not be immediately reached for further comment.
The Justice Department has pushed back on framing the dispute as an
encryption issue, insisting that it is only trying to get past the
lock screen on one phone. Apple has argued that while it is
technically possible to bypass the security features of the iPhone
by building a new operating system, such a move would set a
dangerous precedent.
Bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee
late Friday invited Apple's Cook and FBI Director James Comey to
testify at an upcoming hearing on encryption, though no date was
set.
Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and
Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee respectively, have
long said they intend to introduce legislation that would force a
company to be able to grant authorities access to a suspect's data,
though a bill has not yet materialized.
Some victims of the attack will file a legal brief in support of the
U.S. government's attempt to force open to unlock the phone, a
lawyer representing the victims told Reuters on Sunday.
(Reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington and Abhirup Roy, Supantha
Mukherjee and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Weber,
Bill Rigby, Bernadette Baum and Sunil Nair)
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