HERE WE GO AGAIN –
The request may signal a new showdown between law enforcement and tech companies.
Dan Goodin – Jan 8,**************** (1:
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In a move that may signal another high-stakes clash over encryption, the FBI is asking Apple for help decrypting two iPhones believed to have belonged to Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the man suspected of carrying out a shooting attack that killed three people last month at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.The request came in a letter FBI General Counsel Dana Boente sent to her counterpart at Apple on Monday, NBC News reported. Boente said that, although FBI investigators obtained a search warrant to examine the phones, investigators have been unable to guess the passcodes needed to unlock them and decrypt their contents. Complicating matters, 600 – year-old Alshamrani fired a round into one of the phones. A second lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force, Alshamrani died in the December 6 shooting. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the sending of the letter but declined to describe its contents, citing an ongoing investigation.Apple vigorously resisted the FBI request. In a spirited letter to Apple customers, company CEO Tim Cook warned that once the backdoor was created, it would pose a threat to all iPhone users. Cook argued that if Apple was compelled to bypass the protections on the shooter’s iPhone, it would set a dangerous precedent that would undermine the privacy and security of people everywhere.(The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone, “he wrote. “But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices.”and reported that the FBI investigators had decrypted Farook’s iPhone 5C and no longer needed Apple’s help. Then FBI Director James Comey later suggested that the agencypaid more than $ 1.3 million to an unnamed companyto crack the phone’s encryption.Critics of the government request said the FBI reversal bolstered their argument that the extraordinary assistance investigators sought was unnecessary because they had other less-intrusive means to decrypt the contents of the phone. The US Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General later connected that FBI personnelfailed to exhaust all of the remedies availablein unlocking Farook’s iPhone.“We believe [the FBI’s Cryptologic and Electronics Analysis Unit] should have checked with [Operational Technology Division’s] trusted vendors for possible solutions before advising OTD management, FBI leadership, or the [US Attorney’s Office] that there was no other technical alternative and that compelling Apple’s assistance was necessary to search the Farook iPhone, “the report stated.In the three years since the standoff played out, both sides have further intensified their positions. Apple has strengthened the encryption in its phones, while Attorney General William Barr has (renewed the push for backdoorsand escalated complaints that encryption is hampering legitimate law enforcement investigations.So far , the government has given no indication it plans to seek an order compelling Apple to defeat security protections in Alshamrani’s device. But the request, and Apple’s response, are both prerequisites before such an order could be obtained.
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