Apple says it has received at least 15 federal requests to unlock iPhone

Court records unleased this week show that Apple has received at least fifteen orders from the U.S. Justice Department to help extracting data from an iPhone over the last four months.

Those court orders include the San Bernardino case, in which a federal magistrate judge in California ordered Apple last week to help FBI to unlock the iPhone belonging to one of THE suspects in the San Bernardino shooting.

According to ABC News, Apple said in a letter addressed to a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, that it has objected to nearly all of the requests. The tech giant said it is overseeing one such case and has received requests since October to help law enforcement in accessing 13 other iPhones.

The cases have been brought across the country including California, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Illinois.

In the letter addressed to U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, Apple said that it has objected to assisting law enforcement with regards to 12 of the 15 devices. Judge Orenstein has been weighing since October whether to provide authorities access to data on a locked iPhone in a narcotics related case, Reuters reports.

In the San Bernardino case, Apple has been fighting to refuse a Justice Department order to unlock gunman's iPhone. Apple's CEO Tim Cook said the federal request a "chilling" attack on civil liberties.

The tech giant said in the letter that the judge order in the San Bernardino case "directs Apple to perform even more burdensome and involved engineering" than sought in Brooklyn, Bloomberg reports.

In response to Apple's letter, federal prosecutors said in the government's filing that Apple is misleading the judge. The prosecutors said that Apple "did not file objections to any of the orders" in those cases, but rather "simply deferred complying with them."

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion to force Apple to comply with a judge's order to unlock San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. The Justice Department portrayed Apple's refusal as a "marketing strategy".

In the Brooklyn case, the Justice Department filed a motion in October to force Apple's compliance with a subpoena ordering the company to help law enforcement in accessing data from an alleged drug dealer's iPhone.

The Brooklyn judge sought arguments from both government and Apple, and expressed doubts whether the All Writs Act, a 227 year old law, would empower the court to force Apple assisting government to unlock iPhones.

Apple is expected to file a formal legal objections to the government's demand by this week.

Tags

U.S. Justice Department, Apple, iPhone, San Bernardino, FBI, Tim Cook

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