The Verge: 'FBI Has Lost The Encryption Fight'...

Russell Brandom at the Verge with a headline-to-make-ya-click:

But it’s also the end of something much larger. With the New York case closed, the government is no longer using the courts to try to force Apple to break its own security. There are plenty of other iPhones that prosecutors would like to unlock, but no active cases, and given the retreats in both New York and San Bernardino, it doesn’t seem likely prosecutors will start up a new case any time soon. Prosecutors will leave New York with a new ruling in place that strikes down the legal reasoning behind the government’s unlocking request, and there’s now no prospect that ruling will be overturned. After months of high-stakes legal maneuvering, the FBI’s encryption cases are over, and the bureau is leaving in a far worse spot than it started.

I’m not so sure the government is giving up yet, and by withdrawing from these two key cases, little precedent has yet been set in the courts besides the judge’s opinion in the New York case. Besides the legislative route, such as the draft Feinstein-Burr bill, I doubt we have seen the last of government efforts to compel manufacturers or software vendors to break into devices.

Categories    Apple    Technology    Politics    Encryption