The FBI has unexpectedly backed off its privacy battle with Apple, as the agency cancelled a hearing set for Tuesday in its ongoing effort to force the tech company to break into one of the suspected San Bernardino shooter’s iPhones, telling the court it had found a potential new way to access the data.
Until Monday, the government had insisted—under oath—that it needed Apple’s help in unlocking Syed Farook’s phone, a claim which Apple has denied. The FBI told the court late Monday that a “third party” had demonstrated an alternate method of unlocking the device and asked for time to test it. The government has until April 5 to determine if it wants to pursue the case.
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Just ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, magistrate judge Sheri Pym stayed her previous order that Apple help the FBI crack the passcode on Farook’s phone.
The development was unexpected even by Apple, which has been resisting the FBI’s effort to break into Farook’s phone on the grounds that setting such a precedent would threaten user privacy and enable a dangerous expansion of government power. In a press call with reporters, Apple’s attorneys said they were not even aware that the FBI had been continuing to search for other solutions.
Alex Abdo, an attorney at the ACLU, which filed a brief in support of Apple, told the Guardian that the reversal “suggests that the FBI either doesn’t understand the technology well enough or wasn’t telling us the full truth earlier when it said that only Apple could break into the phone. Either possibility is disconcerting.”
Evan Greer, campaign director with the digital rights group Fight for the Future, said Tuesday, “This case was never about a phone. It was a grab for power. The FBI already had the capability to hack this phone using forensic tools, but they thought this case would be a slam dunk—a way for them to set a dangerous precedent that they’ve wanted for years.”
“Instead, it appears they’re running away with their tail between their legs, trying to save face while they go,” Greer said. “They knew they were going to lose, both in the court of law and the court of public opinion.”
In a conference call with reporters, Apple’s attorneys cautioned against seeing the development as a legal victory, stating that they could be back where they were in two weeks’ time.
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