Where you will stand on this issue probably will depend on which side of the political spectrum you come down on. A while ago the US Justice Department got a court order which ordered Apple to unlock the iPhone that belongs to the terrorists from San Bernardino so the FBI could see what information the phone held, Apple point-blank refused and took the matter to court, at the same time the US Justice Department also went back to court seeking an enforcement order. However recently the Justice Department went into court and withdrew its legal action against Apple, during that withdrawal they stated that the iPhone has been unlocked and the FBI is now going over the data in the phone to see if there's any useful intelligence to be gained.
It was the announcement that the phone had been unlocked and the contents were now available to the authorities that has caused the biggest consternation for many a year. First thing that happened was Apple turnaround and tried to take the Justice Department Court demanding to know who unlocked the phone and how they did it. For the time being the Justice Department has classified both pieces of information so Apple cannot get them. But the very fact that the iPhone has been unlocked by a third-party, the Justice Department has disclosed, has to be gentle about it, thrown a bobcat into the hen house, with tech companies running everywhere trying to figure out who, what and how what Apple said was impossible has occurred.
On top of that the American Civil Liberties Union has joined in the fight on Apple's side trying to force the Justice Department to disclose how the phone was unlocked on the grounds that Apple should be provided that information so they can prevent it happening again, again the Justice Department is basically said the information is classified. Apple then released the following information with Justice Department permission, the phone in question was an iPhone 5C running Apples iOS 9 mobile operating system, other than this revelation potentially frightening anyone who owns this phone with this configuration about how good the phones security is, no one else seems to know why the information was released.
The original court decision and subsequent court appearances between Apple and the authorities had become more more heated as Apple refused point blank to help the authorities in any way, and inciting a debate about whether privacy or security was more important. Now the phone has been unlocked Apple is now saying they would continue to help law enforcement investigations, which of course the FBI quickly reminded everybody was zero cooperation. Apple now says openly that given the rancor between the FBI and the company they doubt the FBI will ever tell him or provide them with any information relating to how the iPhone security was breached.
What most of the general public did not know is that at least three other cases in different parts of the United States have taken place where government lawyers asked for court orders to get Apple to open other locked phones so they can gather information for prosecutions, probably the best-known of these is an iPhone that was used by drug dealer in Brooklyn New York where a federal judge refused to grant the order, Apple is now extremely worried the same method will be used to open these other iPhones and there appears to be absolutely nothing they can do to stop it
