“...it won’t come out of this phone.”
How on earth can you claim to know what is on that phone?
NPR said this morning that there are dozens of similar phones in police lockers unable to be cracked. If there is evidence on the dead perp’s phone then there must also be evidence on those other phones. And it’s not just terrorism, some minor drug dealer will have evidence on their phone to take down a major dealer. The only logical conclusion to your argument is to force Apple to unlock every phone ever owned by any suspect. The next thing that happens is 1000’s of criminals walk due to Apple mishandling evidence against them. Then the government gets the unlock SW.
You are completely missing the point (and the big picture). I know what is not on that phone: 1000 lone wolf terrorist ID's. I know there are dozens of phones with terrorist ID's on them that the government will want to unlock. I know the governemnt would much rather use blanket surveillance than foot work to prevent terrorism. I know the government will screw up the surveillance and trade our surveillance of foreigners for foreign govt surveillance of Americans. I know the government will eventually demand the SW since Apple cannot be trusted to secure criminal evidence.