“Apple Inc. charged Tuesday that a court order forcing the tech giant to assist the federal government in unlocking the iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook was based on non-existent authority asserted by the Justice Department,” Kevin Johnson and Elizabeth Weise report for USA Today. “‘According to the government, short of kidnapping or breaking an express law, the courts can order private parties to do virtually anything the Justice Department and FBI can dream up,’ Apple lawyers argued in new court documents. ‘The Founders would be appalled.'”
“The company rejected the government’s previous contention, characterizing the court order as ‘modest’ and relating to a ‘single iPhone,'” Johnson and Weise report. “‘Instead, this case hinges on a contentious policy issue about how society should weigh what law enforcement officials want against the widespread repercussions and serious risk their demands would create,’ Apple lawyers argued.”
Johnson and Weise report, “‘This case arises in a difficult context after a terrible tragedy,’ Apple contends. ‘But it is in just such highly-charged and emotional cases that the courts must zealously guard civil liberties and the rule of law and reject government over-reaching.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Appalled” is putting it mildly.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Judge Bork” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]