“I can’t imagine that the manufacturer would deny helping in this instance.”
I can———a lib.
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It's more of a conservative position, not Liberal. The problem is that only the user knows the actual password. Apple, if it is Apple, does not have the passcode. . . and the passcode is the key to unlock it. Apple does not have a backdoor into their devices for themselves or for the government, nor is there a means around the number of passcode attempts before the data is permanently erased.