The US Justice Department’s latest bid to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists without the tech giant’s help could quash the Government’s need for Apple’s cooperation in a similar dispute in New York.
In a letter filed in Federal Court in New York, Apple laid out its case in a bid to delay briefing in the Justice Department’s appeal of a ruling that protects the company from unlocking an iPhone in a drug case.
The letter came after US prosecutors reckoned “an outside party” had offered another possible way to open the phone in the San Bernardino investigation, bypassing Apple.
In its letter, Apple said the method being evaluated could also be used in a Brooklyn drug case, and therefore “eliminates the need for Apple’s assistance.”
Apple said that could affect the Justice Department’s appeal of a February 29 ruling by US Magistrate Judge James Orenstein that he did not have authority to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone seized during the drug investigation.
