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The
groups told a judge overseeing Apple's battle with the U.S.
Department of Justice on Thursday that, among other things, they
were aware of "numerous instances" in which criminals who
previously used so-called throwaway burner phones had switched
to iPhones. They did not list a specific instance.
The brief by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
and two others also cited a jailhouse phone call intercepted by
New York authorities in 2015, in which an inmate called Apple's
encrypted operating system a "gift from God."
The government obtained a court order last month requiring Apple
to write new software to disable passcode protection and allow
access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December
killings in San Bernardino, California.
Apple asked that the order be vacated, arguing such a move would
set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security.
Tech industry leaders including Google, Facebook and Microsoft
and more than two dozen other companies filed legal briefs on
Thursday supporting Apple. The Justice Department received
support from law enforcement groups and six relatives of San
Bernardino victims.
The law enforcement groups said in their brief that Apple's
stance poses a grave threat to investigations across the
country.
The FBI says Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were
inspired by Islamist militants when they shot and killed 14
people on Dec. 2 at a holiday party. The couple later died in a
shootout with police and the FBI said it wants to read the data
on Farook's work phone to investigate any links with militant
groups.
In a filing on Thursday, the San Bernardino County District
Attorney's Office said at least two 911 calls from the time of
the shooting reported three assailants, not two.
Even though those reports were "not corroborated," if in fact
there were three attackers it would be important to crack open
the iPhone "to identify as of yet unknown co-conspirators," the
District Attorney's filing stated.
Apple has said it respects the FBI and has cooperated by turning
over data in its possession.
The latest request is different, Apple says, because it requires
them to crack a phone with a software tool that does not
currently exist.
(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles;
Editing by Andrew Hay)
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