1,000 locked devices in limbo after FBI quits iPhone case

The government’s surprise decision to withdraw its case against Apple over the San Bernardino (CA) killer's iPhone adds uncertainty to criminal cases where state and local authorities have been confronted with more than 1,000 locked smartphones and other devices, blocking access to potential evidence, according to a survey of more than a dozen jurisdictions. These locked devices are separate from the most high profile one: the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the December mass shooting in San Bernardino that left 14 dead.

In mid February, a California court had ordered Apple to aid the FBI in sidestepping the security function of that iPhone, an action resisted by Apple out of concerns creating new software would make all iPhones more vulnerable. On March 28, the FBI announced it had been able to unlock the iPhone without Apple’s aid and did not need to move forward with its case. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym vacated her Feb. 16 order on March 29. Left unanswered is what Justice’s abandoned legal action means for the many other law enforcement agencies seeking assistance in unlocking encrypted iPhones, iPads and encrypted devices from other manufacturers. “We were hoping this decision, which could have gone to the Supreme Court, would have been a road map and now it’s not,” said Stewart Baker, a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson.