Apple Inc on Friday urged a US federal court to reject efforts to force the company to help break into an iPhone as part of a New York drug investigation.
In the latest case involving efforts to compel Apple to help US law enforcement break encryption, the company said the court should simply rule the assistance is unnecessary and not authorized by law.
In this case, Apple attorneys argued, the court can avoid a “constitutional thicket” and rule on “narrower grounds.”
The US Department of Justice earlier this month appealed a decision by a US magistrate in Apple’s favor, saying it still wants the company to extract photographs, text messages and other digital data from an iPhone used by someone accused of trafficking in methamphetamines.
Apple said the government’s interpretation of the All Writs Act — a 1789 law that gives the courts wide latitude to help law enforcement — was “soundly rejected” by the magistrate’s ruling.
It simply is not the case that federal courts can issue any order the executive branch dreams up unless and until [the US] Congress expressly prohibits it,” the brief said.
The latest filing comes with US Congress set to take up a bill that would require tech companies to provide technical assistance to law enforcement to help break encryption.
The proposal is facing intense criticism from civil liberties activists and tech firms.
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