Justice Department to withdraw legal action against Apple

The Justice Department is expected to withdraw from its legal action against Apple, as soon as March 28, as an outside method to bypass the locking function of a San Bernardino (CA) terrorist’s phone has proved successful, a federal law enforcement official said. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said the method brought to the FBI earlier in March by an unidentified entity allows investigators to crack the security function without erasing contents of the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the December mass shooting that left 14 dead. March 28's withdrawal would culminate six weeks of building tensions.

The foes were poised to exchange legal body blows in a court room in Riverside (CA) during the week of March 21 before the Justice Department belatedly asked for — and was granted — a postponement. Since a federal magistrate in California in mid-February ordered the company to assist the FBI in gaining access to San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook's seized iPhone, the legal filings and rhetoric between the world’s most valuable technology company and one of the largest crime-fighting organizations in the world had sharpened into verbal vitriol.