“The government insisted that its effort to force Apple to help break into an iPhone as part of the investigation into the 2015 San Bernardino shootings was just about that one case,” Eliza Sweren-Becker reports for the ACLU. “Even though the FBI no longer needs Apple’s help in that case, the FBI’s request was part of a sustained government effort to exercise novel law enforcement power.”
“At the heart of the legal battle is the All Writs Act, originally passed in 1789, which gives courts the authority to issue orders necessary to enforce other lawful orders or decisions,” Sweren-Becker reports. “We’ve found that the government has been using the law to force tech companies to help unlock their customers’ devices in dozens of cases since 2008. ”
“We uncovered 63 confirmed cases in which the government applied for an order under the All Writs Act to compel Apple or Google to provide assistance in accessing data stored on a mobile device,” Sweren-Becker reports. “To the extent we know about the underlying facts, these cases predominantly arise out of investigations into drug crimes.”
“The FBI wants you to think that it will use the All Writs Act only in extraordinary cases to force tech companies to assist in the unlocking of phones,” Sweren-Becker reports. “Turns out, these kinds of orders have actually become quite ordinary.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The FBI lied. Shocker.
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Apple’s new challenge: Learning how the U.S. cracked terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Did the FBI just unleash a hacker army on Apple? – March 29, 2016
Apple declares victory in battle with FBI, but the war continues – March 29, 2016
Apple vows to increase security as FBI claims to break into terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
U.S. government drops Apple case after claiming hack of terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Meet Cellebrite, the Israeli company reportedly cracking iPhones for the FBI – March 24, 2016