The Justice Department is not ready to drop a case seeking to compel Apple to help access an iPhone in Brooklyn, according to court filings on Tuesday. The department withdrew a similar request in California Monday after reportedly discovering a way to access a device in that case.
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To date, Magistrate Judge James Orenstein has sided with Apple, ruling that the company does not need to comply with the Justice Department’s request for help accessing an iPhone 5s involved in a drug case. The Justice Department appealed Orenstein’s ruling, and Apple initially faced a deadline of April 15 to respond.
However, prosecutors suggested on Tuesday that Apple’s position may become immaterial in the days ahead, advising the court that they may “modify” their request for assistance by April 11.
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The phone in question is marginally more advanced than the iPhone 5c that authorities managed to access in San Bernardino. In that case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been seeking a way to preserve the contents of the phone while they hacked the passcode. The contents of the devices normally self-destruct after an incorrect code is entered more than ten times.
However, it isn’t clear whether that was the method the bureau ultimately discovered, and it has no obligation to divulge the method, experts say, thanks to a recently unveiled policy known as the “Vulnerabilities Equities Process.” On account of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation, that policy was revealed in September after more than a year of battling in the courts.
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Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has said previously that his office holds at least 175 Apple devices that it would like to access. Apple has assisted authorities with more than 70 similar cases over the years, but increasing aggression by the federal government has resulting in the company becoming less likely to go along.
