While testifying to a Congress committee yesterday, FBI director James Comey conceded – contrary to an earlier insistence – that the outcome of his organization’s tussle with Apple will likely “guide how other courts handle similar requests”, therefore setting a vital precedent.
These words to a congressional intelligence panel express a different stance to that iterated by Comey on Sunday, when he said that the complex case, which focuses on Apple’s refusal to obey a court order to help in unlocking a gunman’s iPhone 5C, was not about the FBI trying to “set a precedent”.
Speaking to ABC on Wednesday, Cook warned that the code the FBI was asking Apple to write would be “the software equivalent of cancer”. His company’s dispute with the United States’ domestic intelligence and security service has ignited huge debate; you can read the lead article in the new issue of AppleMagazine to learn more about how the arguments have unfolded.