I don't think that will be a problem. The Judge's next move will be to order Federal Marshals to grab whatever official of the Apple company that is responsible for refusing to comply with his order, and tossing him into jail on a contempt order.
The "backdoor" if it exists WOULD be used to grant the government easy access to all devices if Apple complies with this order.
Not necessarily. If Apple unlocks the phone, they don't have to tell anyone how they did it. Only if the government attempts to force them to reveal how they did it could your argument be valid. To my knowledge, this is not what is being asked of them. They aren't being ordered to grant the government access to all Iphones, just this one.
If you believe otherwise, you are not skeptical enough of your government.
Oh, i'm pretty skeptical of the government, but I'm also cognizant of the fact that a search warrant represents a valid and constitutionally legitimate process for allowing the government to have access to locked items.
We have the rule of law here, and we should also be expected to follow the law when it is in favor of the government performing it's legitimate duties.
If Apple stands firm and the government continues to whine about not being able to break this encryption, that will do more to boost their sales than anything else they can do.
Could be, but the current issue isn't about Apple sales. It's about Apple compliance with a Federal Judge's order. Apple may be big, but they aren't that big.
This current flap is about preventing effective encryption from being employed by regular Americans, so that the government can spy on them for whatever reason they want to.
No, that's how Apple is attempting to present it. The current flap is about Apple refusing to cooperate with an investigation by unlocking a phone for which there is a court order for them to do so, and regarding two dead people who no longer have any privacy rights under the law anyway.
I don't think Apple is going to win a fight with a Federal Judge, especially with the law on the Judge's side. Now they can characterize the issue any way they want, but this is not going to fool the Judge regarding his order with which they have yet to comply.
You favor a government that has the right to press you into service at the point of a gun? In order to be subject to jail, one has to be in contravention of the law. Show me the law that says the court can issue an order to anyone for any reason and jail them if they don't comply!
That is what is being threatened here. The back door doesn't exist. Apple is being pressed into service to create one. Since when do were cheer on the government forcing a citizen or company to develop a product to defeat their own business?
No, a search warrant only requires someone to provide what one has possession of in the form of physical property or information. Apple is NOT in possession of these data or of the means of acquiring it. This judge is overstepping her authority by telling Apple to CREATE a means of accessing someone else's data on someone else's property. That is another kettle of fish entirely. In a way it smacks of involuntary servitude to the state.