Apple Files Motion Opposing Order to Unlock iPhone

Apple asked a federal court to toss out an order requiring the company to help law enforcement unlock a phone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino terror attacks, calling the order “unprecedented” with “no support in the law.”

In the filing, Apple argued that the case is about more than one person’s phone, because the government wants it to create new software that could later be used on other phones. “This is not a case about one isolated iPhone,’’ the filing says. ”No court has ever authorized what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimited and sweeping use of the judicial process, and the Constitution forbids it.’’ In its filing, Apple argues that hacking cases, like the theft of millions of personnel records from the Office of Personnel Management, highlight the need for strong encryption. The company also said that if the courts side with the Justice Department and the FBI, it would invite new, more far-reaching demands from the government: “If Apple can be forced to write code in this case to bypass security features and create new accessibility, what is to stop the government from demanding that Apple write code to turn on the microphone in aid of government surveillance, activate the video camera, surreptitiously record conversations, or turn on location services to track the phone’s user? Nothing.’’