In the San Bernardino case , it turned out that the FBI did n’t in reality need Apple ’s help to get at the data in shooter Syed Rizwan Farook ’s iPhone 5c . But if Apple had helped , it certainly would have been crummy .
Speaking at a surety conference in London , FBI Director James Comey was require how much the chest of drawers paid the third - party greyish - hat hackers for the tool that broke into the iPhone . “ A lot , more than I will make in the remainder of this job , which is seven age and four months , for certain . But it was in my view deserving it . ”
If Comey was n’t exaggerating , back - of - the - nappy math puts the total price above $ 1 million : He makes about $ 180,000 per year , and if you multiply that by 7.3 , you get $ 1,314,000 .
It ’s a strange titbit for Comey to partake in sincethe FBI has refuse to give away anything else : who the hacker were , how the hack work , or if it makes other phones vulnerable . We do n’t roll in the hay what was on the phone — one report claimednot much useful , but another claimed thatthelackof information was helpfulin itself . All we really know is that split up into the speech sound cost a lot .
Apple would have been allowed to bill the governing for its own travail and expenses had it collaborate with the All Writs Act warrant . ( And if San Bernardino County , the iPhone ’s proprietor and Farook ’s employer , had inscribe the speech sound in themulti - equipment managementsystem it already ante up for , the politics could have get into the earpiece for free . )
Instead , Apple refuse the FBI ’s request to compose a special reading of iOS , unaffectionately nicknamed GovtOS , that it could install on Farook ’s iPhone 5c run iOS 9 . The FBI wanted GovtOS to bypass the feature that would efface the iPhone after 10 break down try at the passcode , plus murder the time limitation between endeavour and allow the passcodes to be enter electronically . Apple object to the order to write an whole new tool to weaken its own surety , arrogate that the request is an overreach of the All Writs Act and also violates the company ’s free speech by obligate it to write computer code it foundoffensive .
A court hearing was scheduled , there wererumors that fundamental Apple engineers would quitif it do to that , but then of a sudden , the FBI pronounce it had find a way into the telephone , andcalled the whole thing off . Well , the San Bernardino slip anyway — Apple is still defend a case in the Eastern District of New York , in which the authorities want data from a locked iPhone 5s run iOS 7 . Ajudge already ruled in favor of Apple , but the government is currently appealing that opinion .
Elsewhere , lawgiver are sustain sense of hearing and writing Modern legislation to fix what help tech company should give law enforcement without compromising the security measure of 1000000 of innocent citizen who materialize to apply smartphones .
Comey has said that the purchased hack is good for only a “ narrow slice ” of iPhones , but the FBI is also trying to portion out the wealthiness by assisting other law of nature enforcement bureau who have lock , inscribe phones in their own grounds locker .
After all , if you pay upwards of $ 1 million for something , you ’d better endeavor to get all the time value from it that you could .
