Feds again hack iPhone without Apple Justice Department withdraws request to force Apple’s help in drug case
Government lawyers anNEW YORK nounced Friday night they had gained access to data on the iPhone of a New York City drug conspirator and abruptly ended their effort to force Apple to help bypass the phone’s password.
The surprise news was similar to the outcome of the previous battle to compel the tech giant’s assistance in retrieving data from the iPhone of San Bernardino terror attack shooter Syed Farook.
The Department of Justice an- nouncement came in a one-page letter to a Brooklyn federal court in a case focused on Jun Feng, a Queens, N.Y., defendant who pleaded guilty to methamphetamine conspiracy last year.
Federal prosecutors sought access to the phone’s data in part as an effort to determine if others were involved in the alleged plot. Government lawyers wrote that a source they did not identify provided the password to Feng ’s iPhone, enabling investigators to key in the code by hand and access the unit’s data.
Emily Pierce, Justice Department spokeswoman, said the government will no longer need Apple’s assistance.
“As we have said previously, these cases have never been about setting a court precedent; they are about law enforcement’s ability and need to access evidence on devices pursuant to lawful court orders and search warrants,” Pierce said. “In this case, an in- dividual provided the department with the passcode to the locked phone at issue in the Eastern District of New York. Because we now have access to the data we sought, we notified the court of this recent development and have withdrawn our request for assistance. This is an ongoing investigation and therefore we are not revealing the identity of the individual.” Apple declined to comment. Apple attorneys argued last week that the FBI improperly sought the company’s aid before exhausting all other means to bypass the built-in security code on the Apple-manufactured unit.
The California-based tech giant’s legal team also contended the government misinterpreted provisions of the All Writs Act, the 1789 statute that Department of Justice lawyers cited as the legal basis for forcing Apple’s assistance.