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ARTICLE · 26 FEBRUARY 2016

A Big Bite Of The Apple: "Backdoor" Orders, Privacy And Burdens On Non-Litigants

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A dispute over the interpretation of a California court order may have far-reaching implications for non-litigants in civil matters.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Brent Arnold
Brent Arnold
Niklas Holmberg
Niklas Holmberg
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A dispute over the interpretation of a California court order may have far-reaching implications for non-litigants in civil matters.

The Apple "backdoor" order

On February 16, 2016, a Federal Court in California ordered that Apple Computers Inc. ("Apple") provide technical assistance to the FBI in gaining access to a 2013 iPhone 5C. That iPhone belonged to one of two attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino California this past December. The FBI suspects that there may be evidence on the phone of, among other things, direct contact by the attacker with the ISIS terrorist group.

Apple is resisting an interpretation of the order requiring it to create the means by which its own security and encryption protocols may be overridden. The moving party, the U.S. Government, says that any such technique will only be used in one narrow circumstance.

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