Apple asks judge to vacate order to unlock iPhone

Eric Tucker, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple Inc. on Thursday asked a federal magistrate to reverse her order that the company help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone, accusing the federal government of seeking “dangerous power” through the courts.

The filing represents Apple’s first official response since the judge’s order last week and builds upon arguments voiced by the company’s chief executive and supporters.

The Justice Department is proposing a “boundless interpretation” of the law that, if left unchecked, could bring disastrous repercussions for digital privacy, the company warned in a memo submitted to Magistrate Sheri Pym.

“The government says: ‘Just this once’ and ‘Just this phone.’ But the government knows those statements are not true,” lawyers for Apple wrote.

The filing was made the same day that FBI Director James Comey defended the government’s approach during separate appearances on Capitol Hill.

The dispute broke into public view last Tuesday when Pym directed Apple to help the FBI gain access to a phone used by one of the assailants in the San Bernardino, California, attacks.

FBI, Apple to testify before Congress on Tuesday

Mark Berman, The Washington Post

The head of the FBI and Apple’s general counsel will testify before Congress next week amid the public debate over whether the tech giant should help agents unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in December’s terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., federal authorities said Thursday.

This announcement comes as the two sides are waging an increasingly public dispute that centers on one iPhone but touches on much larger issues of privacy and security in a digital world. The FBI has insisted its requests here are narrow and aimed at finding other terrorists; Apple argues that the government’s demands threaten “everyone’s civil liberties.”

FBI Director James Comey and Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel, will appear as witnesses on two different panels next Tuesday, according to the House Judiciary Committee.

“Americans have a right to strong privacy protections and Congress should fully examine the issue to be sure those are in place while finding ways to help law enforcement fight crime and keep us safe,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., said in a joint statement Thursday.

Sewell’s panel will also include Cyrus Vance, district attorney for New York County. Vance and William Bratton, the New York City police commissioner, released a statement last week saying that Apple’s refusal to comply with the FBI is proof of how tech companies “are thwarting serious criminal investigations and impeding public safety.”

Apple is working to make iPhones even tougher to hack into

Ellen Nakashima and Todd C. Frankel, The Washington Post

Fearing that the government may be able to order it to bypass security features in newer-model phones, Apple has begun working on enhancements that would prevent the company from updating the software of an iPhone without knowing a user’s password, according to individuals familiar with the effort.

These security improvements would make it impossible for Apple to help the government unlock newer iPhones in the manner authorities want the company to do so now. The move would force those authorities to find a new technical solution even if they gain the legal authority to force the company to unlock the phones of suspects.