Feds: Apple’s refusal to unlock phone is a ‘marketing strategy’

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department, frustrated by its inability to unlock the iPhone of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino killings, demanded Friday that a judge immediately order Apple to give it the technical tools to get inside the phone.

Apple’s refusal “appears to be based on its concern for its business model and public brand marketing strategy” rather than a legal rationale, prosecutors said in a court filing that further escalated the confrontation between the Obama administration and Apple.

“This is not the end of privacy,” the Justice Department declared, a mocking reference to Apple’s rationale for contesting the court order prosecutors obtained from a judge di- recting Apple to help them break into the phone.

The sharply worded, 25page motion to compel Apple’s cooperation seemed aimed as much at swaying public opinion as influencing the federal magistrate judge in Riverside, California, who issued the order to Apple.

A blistering open letter this week from Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, had rallied many privacy advocates behind the company, and law enforcement officials said that the latest volley from the Justice Department on Friday was meant largely to rebut Cook’s arguments and buttress the government’s own case.

Apple executives, speaking with reporters after the filing on the condition that they not be identified by name, said they were puzzled by the Justice De- partment’s decision to rush back into court before the company even had a chance to respond to this week’s court order.

They reiterated their concerns that the government’s novel demands would endanger the privacy and security of all of their iPhone customers in the future.

Apple has until next week to respond to the magistrate’s order compelling it to provide the technical assistance that the FBI says it needs to get into the phone used by one of the attackers.

But the Justice Department sought to pre-empt Apple’s response with its own filing Friday, saying Apple has already made its opposition publicly known and that the “urgency of this investigation” demands faster action.