WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is firing back at Apple for refusing to help unlock a phone used by one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino attack.
In a new motion Friday, federal prosecutors say the company has chosen to repudiate a judge's order instead of following it.
The department also says Apple designs its products to allow technology — "rather than the law" — to control access to critical data.
Prosecutors also make clear that Apple would be allowed to retain possession of the phone and technology.
The motion offers a sharply worded response to a message that Apple's chief executive officer, Tim Cook, said in a message to Apple customers this week.
It represents a further escalation in a public relations battle that the two sides are waging.
ATTORNEY FOR VICTIMS TO FILE IN SUPPORT OF US AGAINST APPLE
WASHINGTON — Some of the victims and their families in the mass shootings in southern California are openly supporting the U.S. government's position that Apple Inc. be required to help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone in the terrorism investigation.
A Los Angeles attorney, Stephen Larson, says he plans to file a brief in the legal battle on behalf of at least several families of victims and other employees in the shootings in San Bernardino, California. Larson is a former federal judge who says he was asked by federal prosecutors to take on the case.
Larson says the victims want to know what's on the county-issued iPhone used by the gunman, what might pertain to them and why they were targeted. They also want to understand how the shootings could have happened.
