(credit: :D)
We've been reporting over and again about how the FBI is citing a 1789 law, the All Writs Act, to compel Apple to assist the authorities in unlocking the iPhone used by extremist Syed Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino County in December.
In a sense, the law allows for judges to issue orders for people or companies to do something despite Congress not passing laws to cover specific instances. The All Writs Act is the law that led a federal magistrate ordering Apple to write code and unlock Farook's phone, an order that was no longer necessary because the authorities said Monday they cracked the phone without Apple's assistance. The government also said it wouldn't hesitate to use the "court system" to require other tech companies to weaken their security, too.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the US government has cited the All Writs Act in 63 cases since 2008 to compel Apple or Google to assist in accessing data stored on an iPhone or Android device. Most of the orders involved Apple. "To the extent we know about the underlying facts, these cases predominantly arise out of investigations into drug crimes," said Eliza Sweren-Becker, an ACLU attorney.
Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment