The six-week-long lawsuit involving the US government and Apple on the hacking of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook’s iPhone is over, as stated by the Justice Department on Monday.
This comes a week after the delay of a federal court hearing, as the FBI was testing a new technique to access the shooter’s iPhone and retreive stored data. Because the technique proved successful “the government no longer requires assistance from Apple” said the Justice Department.
The legal battle between FBI and Cupertino’s tech giant could have shaped digital privacy for years to come. Now that it is over we are left wondering what to make of it.
Apple is not resting though. This breach in their security system brings up the effective safety of Apple devices and it could even make the legal battle more contentious. Apple’s attorneys stated last week that the company will push to find out the technique used by the government, which is now classified.
The government, on the other hand, has said to be focused on:
“ensuring that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails” as stated by the Justice Department.
Though Apple has not yet released any comment, the public already knows the company’s stance on the matter, as it has been fighting the federal court order with a very intense public relations and legal campaign, seen by some as nothing more than a marketing move.
Apple’s concern has been its customer’s privacy and safety. Probably now more than ever, one of the country’s most valuable companies will fight to maintain that by pushing the government to release the method used to unlock the iPhone and updating their software, making the iPhone once again bulletproof.
Featured image courtesy of GSMArena.com.
