The feds on Friday accused Apple of caring more about its image than fighting terrorism — and asked a federal judge to force the tech giant to help them access data from an iPhone belonging to one of the ISIS-inspired terrorists behind the San Bernardino massacre.
In a new filing in federal court in California, prosecutors slammed Apple for not complying with a judge’s order Tuesday that the company help investigators unlock a phone used by Syed Farook, who with his wife Tashfeen Malik murdered 14 of Farook’s co-workers at a holiday party.
“Rather than assist the effort to fully investigate a deadly terrorist attack by obeying this court’s order of February 16, 2016. Apple has responded by publicly repudiating that order,” prosecutors wrote in a new filing.
“Apple appears to object based on a combination of a perceived negative impact on its reputation and marketing strategy” rather than the legal merits or national security implications of the case, the documents said.
The feds say the phone, which was given to Farook by his employer, could contain crucial evidence about the Dec. 2 terror attack, which also left 22 people injured.
After the judge’s order Tuesday, Apple head Tim Cook issued an open letter explaining that the company planned to fight the original order.
“The FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on [the shooter’s] iPhone,” Cook added.
“In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
But the government rejected those arguments in Friday’s filing.
”The order does not, as Apple’s public statement alleges, require Apple to provide or create a ‘back door’ to every iPhone; it does not provide ‘hackers and criminals’ access to iPhones,” according to the document.
Also Friday, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump jumped into the fray, calling for a boycott of Apple over the phone fight until the company complies with the feds’ request.