After weeks of back and forth, it appears that the FBI vs Apple saga ends today, at least in the federal courtroom that started it all.
The US Government officially said that it has gained access to San Bernadino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c and is now asking the court to vacate its original order to compel Apple to unlock it.
What’s not clear at this time is if the motion to vacate the order will have any impact in the ongoing congressional hearing, as there are still constitutional issues at stake, such as uncovering just how much authority may be granted under the All Writs Act, as well as fourth amendment concerns that protect citizens from unlawful search and seizure.
Update: “The FBI has now successfully retrieved the data stored on the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple required by this Court Order,” DOJ spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement.
The Department of Justice also said that this method only works on this particular phone, which is an iPhone 5c running a version of iOS9. Experts we spoke with suggest that breaking into a single phone is impossible, once the vulnerability was found it could easily be used to access others.
Developing…
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