Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Apple has conceded it can write the software the FBI wants to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone, and technology providers in the past have been required to write code to comply with subpoenas and court orders, government lawyers said Friday.

Federal prosecutors also said in a written motion that Apple’s public statements on the matter have been misleading.

A court order demanding Apple’s compliance “does not give the government ‘the power to reach into anyone’s device’ without a warrant or court authorization,” prosecutors said in the court filing, “and it does not compromise the security of personal information.”

Instead, prosecutors contended, the software the FBI wants Apple to write would remain in the custody of Apple and the company would have flexibility in how it provides assistance.

“No one outside Apple would have access to the software required by the order unless Apple itself chose to share it,” the government said.

The motion to compel Apple’s compliance said technology providers in the past have been required to “write some amount of code to gather information in response to subpoenas.”

The government also argued that the law can compel someone to provide something that didn’t previously exist. Prosecutors cited the case of a defendant whose computer was encrypted. He was ordered to help the government produce a copy of the unencrypted contents of the computer, the motion said.

Prosecutors also argued that the phone may contain “relevant, critical communications and data around the time” of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December and may be obtained only if the government is allowed to search the phone with Apple’s help.

The communications the FBI already have recovered from iCloud date back to a month and a half before the mass shooting, the motion said.

The legal filing portrays the dispute as a battle between the FBI’s need to know communications between terrorists who killed 14 people and injured 22 others, and the desire of a company to protect its reputation.

Contending “Apple is not above the law,” prosecutors said the company was “perfectly capable of advising customers that compliance with a discrete and limited court order … is an obligation of a responsible member of the community.

“It does not mean the end of privacy.”

Written today, by Maura Dolan, Legal affairs writer for the LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-apple-fbi-motion-to-compel-20160219-story.html

All I know is if any member of my family or friends was killed by 'anyone' .. I would want everything done to find and prosecute that person and the people who helped him. I don't give a crap about anything else in that situation! .. I'm a Family Person! screw everyone else ... ;) ... lol. ah I forgot how much fun this all was .. . .. darn.. I'm having trouble writing these articles and it used to be so easy for me . now I'm working .. especially with Krugman's .. I know I know .. you wish I would retire again ! ... ;) still have more krugman ..he wrote the op ed for nyt I think today, on voodo economics ...about republicans .. and .... ..other things ... and then one more very very good one on his blog at the paper! .. damn! ....I'd forgotten just how good he was!