Cybersecurity
Apple Pushes iPhone Standoff Toward Congress or Supreme Court
- Says order to help unlock terrorist's phone endangers privacy
- Apple angles to limit FBI powers unless lawmakers step in
Why Apple Is Fighting the FBI's iPhone Demand
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The fight over Apple Inc.’s refusal to help the FBI break into an iPhone used by a terrorist in California is destined for Washington. The only question is whether it will be Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court that breaks the impasse.
Apple argues the Justice Department is overstepping its authority by forcing the company to help disable the encryption on an iPhone used by one of the two shooters who killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino on Dec. 2. The company’s argument that lawmakers failed to give prosecutors the power they are seeking reveals a gambit that the Supreme Court will side with it on privacy and block an attempt to make it a “hacking” department for the government.