And you do not think that the employees of Apple inc who are the technical experts handling this matter will not be regarded as Agents of Law Enforcement for the purposes of this evidence gathering? I know various law enforcement people hire outside DNA people to do their evidence testing all the time, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.
Oh, and by the way, the criminals are dead, and at this point the law enforcement people are more interested in getting leads that might save lives than they are in building a criminal case.
Are you okay with putting people's lives ahead of "chain of evidence" for any potential suspects who may be later indicted from information found on that phone?
Ergo, the government would have full access to the phone during the installation and use of the new FBiOS, and would also necessarily have a copy of the source code (otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to confirm that it was accessing the data already on the phone without altering it).
I think what the government can have in way of access, is up to the Judge, and I think the Judge will take into account Apple's right to protect their designs and intellectual property.
If the Judge does not, Apple can appeal before any risk occurs to their I.P. If their rights are going to be violated by complying with the order than I think one of the Higher courts will rectify this, and if they don't, then Apple is just screwed.
NO! "Chain of Evidence" doesn't work that way. More of you pulling "facturds" out of your ass and claiming they are true, as if they were golden fruits of truth.