Justice Department files response in San Bernardino iPhone case

The U.S. Department of Justice filed its response to Apple on Thursday as the iPhone manufacturer and federal government continue to battle over whether Apple should be forced to help investigators access a terrorist’s iPhone. 

The 43-page brief, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, largely retreads the government's arguments from earlier filings in the case, as well as a similar, but unrelated, matter from a federal court in Brooklyn.

A judge in that case ruled recently that the government's efforts to force Apple's assistance in accessing a criminal defendant's phone overreached.

In the California case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking Apple's help to access an iPhone 5C once used by Syed Farook, one of the husband-wife shooter team that killed 14 people and injured 14 others during an attack on in San Bernardino, California, in December. Farook and his wife died later that day, during a gunfight with police.

Sheri Pym, a federal magistrate judge in Riverside, California, issued an order requiring Apple's help on Feb. 16. Apple has opposed the order.

The San Bernardino case has been especially provocative because the court order in question commands Apple to write new software to help bypass a security feature on one of its devices.

Critics have said permitting such an order to stand would have dire implications for privacy and data security for all customers because, even though the software in this case would be customized for the suspect's particular device, the technique for developing such software would be repeatable.

Apple has opposed the order and dozens of Internet companies and civil rights groups have filed amicus curae, or "friend-of-the-court," briefs supporting Apple in recent weeks.

In its filing Thursday, the government called those claims "a diversion."

"Apple and its amici try to alarm this Court with issues of network security, encryption, back doors, and privacy, invoking larger debates before Congress and in the news media," Justice Department lawyers wrote. "That is a diversion. Apple desperately wants—desperately needs—this case not to be 'about one isolated iPhone.'"

Apple's response brief is due March 15. A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 22.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.