[catnipman]

“So the county IT guy decided to get creative and set an unfortunate chain of events in motion. Sucks to be him right about now. “

You didn’t read the rest of the article:

“Apple executives say the phone was in the possession of the government when that passcode was reset. A federal official familiar with the investigation confirmed that federal investigators were indeed in possession of the phone when the reset occurred.”

In other words, the FBI blatantly lied in their court filing to try to cover-up their own incompetence by blaming some IT schlub in the San Berdoo Health Department.

[SE Mom]

So. The government geeks screwed up. Big time. Then, to get out of their mess they sue Apple hoping they will fix it while trying to make Apple look like they’re helping terrorists while they, the government, is “only trying to protect the public”....

Perfect.

[DiogenesLamp]

In other words, the FBI blatantly lied in their court filing to try to cover-up their own incompetence by blaming some IT schlub in the San Berdoo Health Department.

Sure. That makes a lot more sense than the possibility that the County IT guy reset it through the cell phone network.

[rpierce]

Thanks, I did miss that part. Along with all the other possibilities floated by posters, it’s hard (nigh impossible) to figure out what the heck is really going on here. Still, I tend to not blame diabolical evil when simple incompetence or human error is a reasonable explanation. :)

[USNBandit]

The Apple ID passcode would have to be changed by somebody who knew the old passcode or could receive a passcode reset email. Not necessarily somebody using the phone itself. After the passcode is reset and the phone readfiliates with the Internet, the new passcode would be required.

Conceivably it could have been done by IT, a family member, or co-can't conspirator. It could have been done by the FBI if they had access to another computer to that the terrorist used to come communicate with Apple.