“This case need not have escalated if good evidence handling had been done but maybe they needed an emotional case to tie the privacy intrusion to.”
I don’t know, I think there was some lame excuse about trying to get more information fast because there were all these people murdered or something. Some people get pretty wound up and take all this jihad business seriously, so they go as fast as they can, not thinking they were gonna run into some tech taboo and get voted off the island.
My understanding is that they tried what they could right away because this wasn’t mental masturbation for them, they were hoping to catch more murderers. Moving quickly is important in this kind of case is important to some more than others. They probably knew that any decent company would just say OK and get the info out for them, so they tried to do what they could with the clock ticking.
As for Apple, they weren’t even asked to do anything that had to do with their code, nothing but help get the information out. Tim the drama queen pushed it over the edge at that point. He probably could have pulled one out of his ass that day. If it wasn’t already occupied.
It is pretty hilarious that they turned it into this whole thing...fate of the world balanced on a razor’s edge if we get the info for you. The trials won’t be anywhere near as entertaining if Tim continues the hissy fit all the way to the Supremes, not without Justice Scalia there. Would have been priceless. No telling where they will push this...
You missed the point that Apple (did say OK) was helping them voluntarily and timely data could have been gotten pre-tampering. After the govt tampering (which you attribute to panic), even with Apple caving to creating a back door, you are looking at a long drawn out process to create software and hardware that has never existed. Regardless of how Apple decided, the self inflicted foot wound had already destroyed the possibility of quickly getting timely intel from the phone. For sure the govt screwed up and the courts will judge whether Apple also did likewise.
If you read the snarky not very dignified 35 page legal filing from the govt you wonder if its all not just a pissing contest.
Unfortunatey we get to watch the legal grass grow and won’t know who the good guys are until the legal process is complete - next hearing in a month.
“Act in haste and repent at leisure.”
That is indeed a pity. Scalia had great respect for the Fourth Amendment, and none whatsoever for bureaucratic toadies who try to undermine it.