LOS ANGELES
Federal prosecutors said Apple has the ability to to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone and allege that Apple’s public statements have been misleading.
They allege that Apple is more concerned with its public image than offering any merits in support of its position opposing the court order, federal prosecutors stated.
In their court filing today, prosecutors claim that demanding that Apple comply doesn’t give the federal government the power to go into a person’s electronic device without first getting a warrant or court authorization.
The 25-page motion to compel has one exhibit, which is a message from Apple to its customers.
The Apple’s message to its customers is that this federal government’s demand “takes an unprecedented step which threatens the security of customers. This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the world to understand what is at stake.”
Adding, “We are challenging the FBI’s deman with the deepest respect for American democracy. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.”
“While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good. It would be wrong for our government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”
But federal officials said that Apple helping crack open a terrorist’s iPhone doesn’t compromise the privacy of others.
“…it does not compromise the security of personal information,” federal officials maintain in their motion.
“Rather than assist in the effort to fully investigate a deadly terrorist attack by obeying” the court order, Apple is “publicly repudiating” the court order.
Prosecutors allege that Apple’s main concern is “perceived public impact on its reputation and marketing strategy” if it were to help the government.
The federal government states in its that Apple has never argued that it lacked the “technical capability,” that their technology isn’t needed to crack open the iPhone or that doing so would be “too time- or labor-intensive.”
Prosecutors maintain that the iPhone can have “relevant, critical communications and data around the time” of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December, which resulted in 14 people being killed and 22 others injures.
But this information can only be obtained with Apple’s help.
The motion stated that communications the FBI already have recovered from iCloud date back to a month and a half before the mass shooting.
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” as a member of the community.