Feds gain postponement of iPhone hearing
The Justice Department may not need Apple's help any longer.
Citing new leads about how to access an iPhone used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Justice Department on Monday asked to postpone a court hearing set for Tuesday on whether Apple should be forced to help the FBI break into that device. Their request was granted.
For months, government lawyers have insisted they needed Apple to write special software so that the FBI could bypass the security features on the iPhone being used by the San Bernardino shooter, Syed Farook, and obtain information critical to their ongoing terrorism investigation.
But the Justice Department unexpectedly told the court just hours before a scheduled hearing that it may not need to force Apple’s assistance after all under a little-known law, the All Writs Act, a move that Apple and the rest of Silicon Valley had said would threaten the privacy and security rights of all smartphone owners.
"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone," federal prosecutors said in a filing Monday afternoon. "Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. ("Apple") set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case."
"Accordingly, to provide time for testing the method, the government hereby requests that the hearing set for March 22, 2016 be vacated," government lawyers wrote....MORE
HT: The Next Web
