Replies

“F.B.I. personnel apparently believed that by resetting the iCloud password, they could get access to information stored on the iPhone.”

Complete BS. The FBI is not that incompetent.

Complete BS. The FBI is not that incompetent.

Why not give us the name of the person who changed the password and ask him why he did it?

“The FBI is not that incompetent.”

I’ll take that bet. They not only are that incompetent, they are also as political and diabolical as they ever have been since J. Edgar Hoover, which I realize is your point.

I take this as the FBI trying to turn their incompetence “lemons” into “lemonade”. The f’ed this up and then decided to make it about Apple, not their incompetence.

I have had the pleasure of recently being acquainted with some FBI folks, and that is why I believe there is no basis for removing the possibility of incompetence. I believe it was a likely cause. The political hacks decided to try to make hay out of it by lying.

Good point about the FBI not being that incompetent. Perhaps they had already retrieved the data on the phone and knew it had no value, but then decided to make this a test case to force Apple to build in the access they wanted all along.

A good place to put this link and a few other thoughts. This letter to the Court was written by the husband of victim Anies Kondoker. Although shot 3 times, Anies survived.

The entire letter is at bottom of page at link. (Bold mine)

San Bernardino Survivor's Husband To Judge: Terrorist iPhone "Unlikely" To Hold Valuable Information

"..... In my opinion it is unlikely there is any valuable information on this phone," Salihin wrote in the letter, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News.
"This was a work phone. My wife also had an iPhone issued by the County and she did not use it for any personal communication," Salihin continued. "San Bernardino is one of the largest counties in the country. They can track the phone on GPS in case they needed to determine where people were. Second, both the iCloud account and carrier account were controlled by the county so they could track any communications. This was common knowledge among my wife and other employees.
"Why then would someone store vital contacts related to an attack on a phone they knew the county had access to? They destroyed their personal phones after the attack. And I believe they did that for a reason."
(Snip)
Finally, and the reason for my letter to the court, I believe privacy is important and Apple should stay firm in their decision. Neither I, nor my wife, want to raise our children where privacy is a tradeoff for security. I believe this case will have a huge impact all over the world. You will have agencies from all over the world to get access to the software the FBI is asking for. It will be abused all over to spy on innocent people.
America should be proud of Apple. Proud that it is an American company and we should protect them not try to tear them down.
I support them in this case and I hope the court will too."

Bottom line as far as I am concerned.

Because nothing happens in a vacuum.....

The following article describes a meeting in January between tech companies and members of the WH Administration.

Apple’s Privacy Fight Tests Relationship With White House

WASHINGTON — Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, was relentless during a private meeting of tech giants and President Obama’s top national security officials last month. Encrypted devices like the iPhone are here to stay, he insisted. Law enforcement needs to find a way to do its job in a new world. 
James B. Comey Jr., the director of the F.B.I., and Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch pushed back, but Mr. Cook stood firm, several participants said.
“With all due respect,” Mr. Cook told those around the table, including Mr. Obama’s counterterrorism chief and the heads of the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, “I think there has been a lack of leadership in the White House on this.”
Denis R. McDonough, the president’s chief of staff, took exception and said so. Law enforcement officials described him as stung by what they called Mr. Cook’s “rant,” although tech executives in the room insisted that Apple’s chief executive was respectful.

Denis McDonough was stung. Cry me a river. Boo-effen-hoo.

My personal, but unprovable theory is this.

No one in the FBI is so stupid not to know a backup is done before making changes.
The phone was backed up to the cloud first. Nothing on the phone had anything to do with their plans to carry out a terrorist attack or other matters of national security.
After the backup, the password to the cloud was changed to prevent unauthorized access.
It is safe to say WH was angry that Tim Cook stuck to his guns regarding encryption.
WH realized this was the perfect case to push their agenda.
All of which means this current legal battle is agenda driven. The investigation into what happened is nothing more than tool in which to push the WH's agenda.

A theory which is impossible to prove. It does not approach the tin foil level because we know how this WH operates. We are being played and so many are falling for it hook line & sinker. :(

Complete BS. The FBI is not that incompetent.

You have FAR more faith in the FBI than I...