It's never just one bite of the Apple

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked Apple to crack an encrypted iPhone to see if it contains evidence pertinent to a terrorism investigation. Apple is resisting the request and the two sides are now battling in court. While the battle is being fought in the United States, the case's resolution will have global implications, and not just because Apple has sold more than 700 million iPhones worldwide and has the second-largest market share.

The iPhone 5C in question was used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the two San Bernardino shooters who killed 14 people in early December before being killed in a shootout with police. Farook had been backing up the phone to the cloud — which the FBI can access — but he stopped several weeks before the attack. The FBI thinks there may be information on the phone that can help them find accomplices or connections but it has been unable to crack the security system on the phone; the software only allows 10 attempts to try a password before the data is deleted. The FBI has obtained a court order to force Apple to help them beat that security system. In its appeal against the order, Apple counters that it has cooperated with the FBI as much as it can and compelling it to do more would be unconstitutional.

The case raises two vital issues. The first concerns the government's ability to compel Apple to work on its behalf. The FBI is not asking that Apple hand over a key to the phone; there is little doubt that the government could force it to do so. But no such key exists. Instead, the FBI is demanding that Apple write new software that will allow it unlimited attempts to crack the password. Apple is concerned — and rightfully so — that the FBI request is dangerous overreach. It is being forced to develop software for government purposes. That begs the question why the FBI or scientists at the National Security Agency — the agency responsible for U.S. communications security and reputed to have the most advanced technology in the world — cannot do the job. Why must Apple create the software? The FBI response is that only Apple has the proper security credentials to have the phone accept new software, an assertion that merely rephrases the original problem — if they can crack the phone, then the FBI or the NSA should be able to spoof Apple's security credentials.