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The Justice Department’s decision to withdraw its demand that Apple ( AAPL ) help it hack an iPhone in a criminal case is seen as a victory for civil liberties and data security. But the government’s actions late Monday raise a host of questions. The U.S. Department of Justice told a federal judge that it no longer needed to compel Apple to help unlock the password-protected iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, one of the two now-deceased shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., massacre. The DOJ said that the FBI was able to access data on the iPhone with the assistance of an unidentified outside party. Unanswered questions include: Who unlocked the iPhone for the FBI? How did they do it? Did they find anything useful for the investigation? Is data vulnerable on all iPhones because of the hack? Is the FBI telling the truth about the iPhone hack, or did it just want to back out of the court battle with Apple to save face? Will the feds pursue court action against Apple in other criminal cases? How will Congress address smartphone security amid law enforcement demands for access? “This case should never have been brought,” Apple said in a statement. “Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy.” Apple said that a court order forcing it to write software to bypass its own security protections would have set a dangerous precedent. If it created a “back door” for the government, the data of all iPhone users would have been vulnerable to hackers, criminals and spies, the company said. A U.S. magistrate on Feb. 16 ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking Farook’s iPhone. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2. The radicalized Muslim couple, described in press reports as supporters of terror group ISIS, died in a gun battle with police. Fight for the Future, a digital rights group known for organizing online protests to support Internet freedoms, called the FBI’s decision to back down in the case a victory for the public. “Fortunately, Internet users mobilized quickly and powerfully to educate the public about the dangers of back doors, and together we forced the government to back down,” Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, said in a statement. Image provided by Shutterstock . Scalper1 News
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