Even at the request of the Justice Department, Apple announced that it cannot break into a locked iPhone because of new security and encryption features embedded within the phone itself. The brief was released as a New York judge sought the company's assistance in pulling out user data from an iPhone in its possession, Yahoo News reported.
Apple also said that 90% of the world's iPhones run on iOS 8 and iOS 9 and the rest are older versions. The brief said that encryption of these versions "prevent anyone without the device's passcode from accessing the device's encrypted data. This includes Apple."
Interestingly, the iPhone in the possession of the Justice Department does not run on the newer iOS versions. Apple said that while it is "technically feasible" to help law enforcement break into these phones, their commitment to user privacy should be taken into account before being compelled to break in, Reuters reported.
An Apple lawyer also said, "Forcing Apple to extract data in this case, absent clear legal authority to do so, could threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the Apple brand."
The heightened encryption of iPhones came at the wake of the Snowden leaks and are pretty clear signs that Apple takes user privacy seriously. Its reiteration that iPhone encryption technology makes it impossible even for the manufacturers to break into can be interpreted as a call to action to iPhone users: update now and Apple will have your back.
There are no "back doors" in the software of the new iPhones, BBC reported. These "back doors" are what the Snowden leaks say that the NSA used to pull user data from devices. Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive conference, "We think encryption is a must in today's world." He added, "No one should have to decide privacy or security. We should be smart enough to do both."
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