The federal government on Monday appealed a New York court’s ruling that Apple should not be required to help law enforcement unlock an iPhone 5 that was used by a drug dealer.
“This case in no way upends the balance between privacy and security,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in their appeal to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “The Constitution has already struck the relevant balance: it protects the people’s privacy ‘in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,’ but permits reasonable searches including ones where the government has a warrant.
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“Here, the government has a warrant. And a longstanding federal statute provides this Court with the authority to require Apple to assist with that warrant,” they state, referring to the All Writs Act of 1789.
The case is similar to one in San Bernardino, California, where Apple is appealing a different court’s ruling that the company should be required to help unlock an iPhone 5 that was used by perpetrators of the December terrorist attack in the city. One key difference is that while the San Bernardino device was running the ninth edition of Apple’s operating system, the New York device ran on the seventh edition. Apple’s policy is to provide more assistance with unlocking systems that pre-date iOS 8, a fact noted by federal attorneys.
In spite of the older operating system, attorneys claimed, “Apple indicated that, given the public attention directed to the case by the magistrate judge, Apple’s public relations concerns prompted it to object.”
Attorneys added that they would find it acceptable for Apple to unlock the phone without handing over any technology that law enforcement would be able to use in future cases. “Apple may perform the passcode-bypass in its own lab, using its own technicians, just as it always has, without revealing to the government how it did so,” they wrote. “Therefore, granting the application will not affect the technological security of any Apple iPhone nor hand the government a ‘master key.”‘
The device in question belonged to Jun Feng, who was arrested in mid-2014 and recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Officials are seeking to discover more information on any of Feng’s accomplices.
The case contributes to a narrative that privacy advocates have warned about, namely that if Apple is required to unlock even one device for authorities, it will be required to unlock an increasing number going forward.
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Last month, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said that law enforcement officials in his cyberlab have been unable to unlock a total of 175 iPhones in connection to cases they have investigated over the last 18 months. He has repeatedly called on Apple to assist with unlocking those devices, and on Congress to pass stricter laws requiring that assistance.
