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| An Apple logo is seen at the entrance of an Apple store in downtown Brussels, Belguim March 10, 2016. |
REUTERS
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The latest filing in the legal war
between the planet’s most powerful government and its most
valuable company gave one indication of how the high-stakes
confrontation could escalate even further.
In what observers of the case called a carefully calibrated
threat, the U.S. Justice Department last week suggested that
it would be willing to demand that Apple turn over the "source
code" that underlies its products as well as the so-called
"signing key" that validates software as coming from Apple.
Together, those two things would give the government the
power to develop its own spying software and trick
any iPhone into installing it. Eventually, anyone using an
Apple device would be unable to tell whether they were using
the real thing or a version that had been altered by officials to
be used as a spy tool.
Technology and security experts said that if the U.S.
government was able to obtain Apple's source code with a
conventional court order, other governments would demand
equal rights to do the same thing.
"We think that would be pretty terrible," said Joseph Lorenzo
Hall, chief technologist at the nonprofit Center for Democracy
& Technology.
The battle between Apple and the U.S Justice Department has
been raging since the government in February obtained a
court order demanding that Apple write new software to help
law enforcement officials unlock an iPhone associated with
one of the shooters in the December attack in San Bernardino,
California that killed 14 people.
Apple is fighting the order, arguing that complying with the
request would weaken the security of all iPhones and create
an open-ended precedent for judges to make demands of
private companies.
The Justice Department's comments about source code and
signing keys came in a footnote to a filing last week in which
it rejected Apple's arguments. Apple's response to the DOJ
brief is expected on Tuesday.
Justice Department lawyers said in the brief that they had
refrained from pursuing the iOS source code and signing key
because they thought “such a request would be less palatable
to Apple. If Apple would prefer that course, however, that may
provide an alternative that requires less labor by Apple.”
The footnote evoked what some lawyers familiar with the case
call a "nuclear option," seeking the power to demand and use
the most prized assets of lucrative technology companies.
between the planet’s most powerful government and its most
valuable company gave one indication of how the high-stakes
confrontation could escalate even further.
In what observers of the case called a carefully calibrated
threat, the U.S. Justice Department last week suggested that
it would be willing to demand that Apple turn over the "source
code" that underlies its products as well as the so-called
"signing key" that validates software as coming from Apple.
Together, those two things would give the government the
power to develop its own spying software and trick
any iPhone into installing it. Eventually, anyone using an
Apple device would be unable to tell whether they were using
the real thing or a version that had been altered by officials to
be used as a spy tool.
Technology and security experts said that if the U.S.
government was able to obtain Apple's source code with a
conventional court order, other governments would demand
equal rights to do the same thing.
"We think that would be pretty terrible," said Joseph Lorenzo
Hall, chief technologist at the nonprofit Center for Democracy
& Technology.
The battle between Apple and the U.S Justice Department has
been raging since the government in February obtained a
court order demanding that Apple write new software to help
law enforcement officials unlock an iPhone associated with
one of the shooters in the December attack in San Bernardino,
California that killed 14 people.
Apple is fighting the order, arguing that complying with the
request would weaken the security of all iPhones and create
an open-ended precedent for judges to make demands of
private companies.
The Justice Department's comments about source code and
signing keys came in a footnote to a filing last week in which
it rejected Apple's arguments. Apple's response to the DOJ
brief is expected on Tuesday.
Justice Department lawyers said in the brief that they had
refrained from pursuing the iOS source code and signing key
because they thought “such a request would be less palatable
to Apple. If Apple would prefer that course, however, that may
provide an alternative that requires less labor by Apple.”
The footnote evoked what some lawyers familiar with the case
call a "nuclear option," seeking the power to demand and use
the most prized assets of lucrative technology companies.
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