Apple to fight order to help FBI unlock shooter's iPhone

February 17, 2016 20:57

Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook says his company will fight a federal magistrate's order to help the FBI hack into an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino, California shooters.

The company said that could potentially undermine encryption for millions of other users.

Cook's response, posted early today on the company's website, set the stage for a legal fight between the federal government and Silicon Valley with broad implications for digital privacy and national security.

US Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym had ordered Apple to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the December 2 attack that killed 14 people. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, died in a gun battle with police.

The ruling by Pym, a former federal prosecutor, requires Apple to supply software the FBI can load onto Farook's county-owned work iPhone to bypass a self-destruct feature that erases the phone's data after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock it.

The FBI wants to be able to try different combinations in rapid sequence until it finds the right one.

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