Manhattan D.A. reopens encryption battle with Apple
A top law enforcement official wants to turn back the clock on iPhone security.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Thursday that he wants Apple's encryption to go back to how it was in early 2014. Back then, police could basically extract any information they wanted after getting a warrant.
"Doing nothing about this problem will perpetuate an untenable arms race between private industry and law enforcement," Vance said on Thursday. "Federal legislation is our only chance to lay these arms aside."
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Vance said he's got 423 "lawfully-seized Apple devices" that his employees can't do anything with. Forty-two of those devices "pertain to homicide or attempted murder cases" according to the district attorney's office, and a similar number "relate to sex crimes."
Apple believes being forced to hack into phones at the government's will is an unreasonable burden.
The argument, of course, is that the district attorney's office would have an easier time solving crimes if they had access to these phones.
Apple has been at an impasse with law enforcement over encryption before. After a series of shootings by extremists in San Bernardino, California, on Dec. 2, 2015, the FBI recovered a locked iPhone connected to a suspect. The FBI asked Apple to hack into the phone, but Apple publicly refused, and their battle went back and forth until the FBI paid hackers to do it for them.
Apple's argument against helping the FBI centers around the All Writs Act of 1789, which says courts can compel third parties to help out the government so long as that help doesn't put an burden on the company that is deemed unreasonable.
Apple believes being forced to hack into phones at the government's will is an unreasonable burden. Their fear is that this will set a precedent by which government controls development and access to their products.
The legal disagreement disappeared from headlines after the FBI found a way around Apple, but it could very well come up again in a Donald Trump administration. Trump has indicated that he's in favor of expanding surveillance, and reversing the gains of encryption would be a way to do just that.
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
