“Congressman Ted Lieu of California has asked the FBI to drop its legal attack on Apple,” Jose Pagliery reports for CNN. “In a formal letter to FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, the congressman said the FBI is trying to use federal courts to seek an authority it doesn’t have: pressuring an American company to weaken the security of its technology. ‘We should all take a deep breath and talk to each other, rather than use a lawsuit to circumvent the critical and necessary policy discussions,’ Lieu wrote.”
“‘The profound issues at stake should not be decided, as you state, by either corporations or the FBI,’ he wrote. ‘Let Congress, stakeholders, and the American people debate and resolve these difficult issues, not unelected judges based on conflicting interpretations of a law passed 87 years before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone,'” Pagliery reports. “Congress is currently considering various proposals on secure technology that can’t be hacked or spied on. Lieu’s own bill, the Encrypt Act, would prevent the government from mandating weaker security. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is working with Sen. Richard Burr on legislation that would require companies to work with law enforcement in all cases.”
“Lieu told CNNMoney that only Congress can decide whether Apple should have to build a backdoor for the iPhone,” Pagliery reports. “‘The FBI doesn’t have the statutory authority to get that evidence,’ he said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Who wants to bet that U.S. Magistrate Judge, Sheri Pym has no earthly idea what the hell she approved?
Since the chance of the FBI taking Congressman Lieu’s advice is approximately 0%, we can’t wait for the appeal!
SEE ALSO:
In the fight to hack iPhones, the U.S. government has more to lose than Apple – February 23, 2016
Here are the 12 other cases where the U.S. government has demanded Apple help it hack into iPhones – February 23, 2016
John McAfee blasts FBI for ‘illiterate’ order to create Apple iPhone backdoor – February 23, 2016
Some family members of San Bernardino victims back U.S. government – February 23, 2016
Apple supporters to rally worldwide today against U.S. government demand to unlock iPhone – February 23, 2016
U.S. government seeks to force Apple to extract data from a dozen more iPhones – February 23, 2016
Apple CEO Cook: They’d have to cart us out in a box before we’d create a backdoor – February 22, 2016
Tim Cook’s memo to Apple employees: ‘This case is about more than a single phone’ – February 22, 2016
Obama administration: We’re only demanding Apple hack just one iPhone – February 17, 2016