I can’t understand how the US government can’t figure out how to hack that phone. I bet someone is Russia could do it.
Tinfoil would be that it might have happened (at the CIA) but getting Apple involved would be a figleaf for the provenance of the data.
All the FBI needs to do is ask the Chinese Government to tell Apple to give them the information and Apple would hand it over to the Chinese in 10 hours.
Maybe they have but want to play by the rules and get permission. I don’t know.
The issue is that Apple is unwilling to assist. They have a monopoly and are taking advantage of it. They are soulless on this and on everything else.
THey will not come out of this well.
We know that the NSA spies on us and that many are willing to eschew the fourth amendment and that is unacceptable, yet when they have someone in their sites, the same agency defers to apple. Why?
They have no reason to tap my phone, they take it by having me sign some stupid waiver I have to sign if I want to join the real world and get on line. But it is certainly against privacy.
The problem is that the data is encrypted, and too many bad password attempts will delete the encryption keys - making the data permanently inaccessible. The FBI wants Apple to create a tool that will bypass that security. I’m not even sure such a tool can be created, but it is an accepted fact that it does not now exist. So the question becomes, do we want to set the precedent that the government can force you to create something new, even against your will? I am not talking about forcing you to turn over something you already have - this would be creating something completely new.