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               US Judge Orders Apple to Access iPhone in New Case

   by VOA News

   A U.S. judge has ordered Apple to help law enforcement officials unlock
   an iPhone in a gang case --another battle between the government and
   the technology giant over encryption.

   A Boston magistrate judge said Apple should provide reasonable
   assistance to the government, which could include extracting data from
   the device, copying it to a hard drive, and then giving the drive to
   law enforcement officers.

   The court ruling was made February 1, but was unsealed to the public
   Friday.

   The case is similar to one linked to the San Bernardino, California,
   mass shooting in December in which 14 people were killed. The
   government has dropped its legal action against Apple in that case,
   after announcing that it figured out how to unlock the iPhone used by
   the gunmen in the mass shooting. Government officials said, however,
   that the encryption workaround they discovered only works for one
   particular phone and operating system.

   Also Friday, the Justice Department said it would continue trying to
   force Apple to crack the encryption of another iPhone, this one linked
   to a New York drug case. Apple lawyers said they were disappointed by
   the government's decision.

   The government has sought to require Apple to write new software
   programs to help investigators get data from iPhones without knowing
   the phones' passwords.

   Apple has been fighting the orders in court, arguing that the
   government's demands violate the company's constitutional rights, harm
   the Apple brand and threaten the trust of its customers to protect
   their privacy.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-judge-orders-apple-access-iphone-g
   ang-case/3277485.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-judge-orders-apple-access-iphone-gang-case/3277485.html