FBI's Retreat from Apple Fight: A Reader Responds [telecom]

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By Steve Rosenbush

Some critics have maintained that it was clear from the start that the government could have cracked the iPhone without Apple's help. Edward Snowden made that case earlier this month, when he said that the security systems could have been overcome by "attacking" the hardware of the device, and that it wasn't necessary to enlist Apple's aid in writing software to break the encryption. He argued that convenience, and something more fundamental, drove the Justice Department's demands. The Morning Download revisited that point earlier today, in a post entitled "FBI's Retreat from Apple Battle Is Remarkable."

As Edward Snowden said earlier this month: "They frame this false choice between security and privacy. But you can have both - Surveillance isn't about safety. It's about power."