The strange fib of the San Bernardino iPhone seems like it ’s almost over , although it touched off a internal debate about encryption that ’s just getting started . Apple in all probability wo n’t bump out what method was used by the third - party house that broke into the iPhone 5c used by hit man Syed Rizwan Farook , reports Reuters .
The government says that the nameless international business firm that did the hack has sound ownership of the method , so while the FBI produce the data it wanted , it ’s ineffective to expose the method to Apple . There ’s actually a organisation in place , known as theVulnerabilities Equities Process , that ’s designed to evaluate flaws break by the government activity ’s own agencies to determine if they should be disclosed to the technology companies who can patch them , or if the vulnerabilities can stay private to be used by the NSA , FBI , or other agency .
But in this event , the FBI articulate it does n’t even make love enough about the method to be able-bodied to submit it for evaluation . The firm that “ owns ” the drudge is loose to keep it secret and betray it to anyone — government or criminal alike .
As recently as last week , FBI Director James Comey made it sound like the bureau was still weighing its choice about disclosing the flaw to Apple , not that it was technologically or legally prohibited from doing so . Speaking at Kenyon College on April 6,Comey said , “ If we tell Apple , they ’re going to fix it and we ’re back where we start . As silly as it may sound , we may end up there . We just have n’t settle yet . ”
The other piece of bad news in this display case : A source in law enforcementtold CBS Newsthat the San Bernardino iPhone has n’t produced useful evidence so far , although they are n’t done canvass all the information . You may recall that the iPhone 5c in interrogative sentence was provided by Farook ’s employer , San Bernardino County , and he also had a personal cellphone phone that he destroyed prior to confide the crime . Farook and his wife and carbon monoxide gas - conspirator Tashfeen Malik were killed in a gunfight with police force enforcement after murder 14 people and seriously wounding 22 .
