In a dispute with no connection whatsoever with the case of the San Bernardino terrorist attack (in California), Apple managed to win the fight with the American government.
As in many cases, in this case the government wanted access to information stored on a particular iPhone. As the device in question is using an old iOS, Apple has access to this data since its security is not as strong as we currently have in the eighth / new version of the operating system. To do this, however, Apple requires an order from a judge, a warrant.
Similar to the case involving the San Bernardino attack, in this New York dispute the government was also relying on All Writs Act (issue all necessary or convenient warrants to assist their respective jurisdictions and households for customs and principles of law) to gain access to information. Judge James Ornstein denied the request.
In his explanation, the judge said that none of the factors commented on by the government justify imposing an obligation to force Apple to assist an investigation against its will. Ornstein further said that the question to be answered in this case and others (such as that of San Bernardino) is not whether the government should be able to force Apple or other companies to help unlock a specific device, but whether the All Writs Act enough to solve this kind of problem and many others that are yet to come.
For the judge, a law over 200 years old cannot be used to resolve a 2014 case involving drug trafficking. This type of debate must take place today, among legislators who are prepared to consider the technological and cultural realities of a world which their predecessors could not conceive of. For him, it would be a kind of betrayal of constitutional inheritance and democratic will of the people to pretend that this type of scenario was discussed and decided in 1789 (original date of the All Writs Act).
Perhaps this case will be used as a precedent for the current dispute between Apple and the FBI. After all, the government is using the same arguments to try to unlock the phone while Apple's defense is very close to Ornstein's opinion. We'll see.
(via TechCrunch, Re / code)
