Tech giant Apple said that it is impossible, even for the company, to unlock a password protected iPhone running iOS 8.0 or later.
For highly confidential reasons, the U.S. Justice Department is asking the tech company to unlock a password protected iPhone obtained by the authorities. However, the Cupertino-based company told federal Magistrate Judge James Orenstein that the request is technically impossible - as previously detailed in Apple's latest security release.
"The secure boot chain, code signing, and runtime process security all help to ensure that only trusted code and apps can run on a device... protecting personal and corporate information at all times and providing methods for instant and complete remote wipe in the case of device theft or loss," wrote Apple on its security policy.
Among the technologies included in iOS 8 is a feature that prevents anyone - including Apple and the government - from accessing an encrypted data. 90 percent of iPhones are already running iOS 8.0 or later.
"In most cases now and in the future, the government's requested order would be substantially burdensome, as it would be impossible to perform. For devices running iOS 8 or higher, Apple would not have the technical ability to do what the government requests - take possession of a password protected device from the government and extract unencrypted user data from that device for the government," Apple replied to the Court's assumed authority for such a request stemming from the All Writs Act as written in Wall Street Journal.
Apple also requested of clarity on the scope of the All Writs Acts - and if the writ can indeed allow - even request - unlocking, a clear invasion of privacy.
According to the Cornell University Law School, All Writs Act allows the federal court to "issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law."
It means the government expects Apple to extend help to the government on law enforcements.
The judicial issue is not the first time for the government to require Apple's cooperation. In 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York employed the All Writs Act to force Apple to bypass the lock screen of a unit allegedly involved in a credit card fraud. Around the same time, the Oakland Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office invoked the same writ asking Apple to unlock an iPhone 5S reportedly used in a criminal case.
In this case, Apple holds its ground that the All Writs Act may not apply because the bounds of mandatory law enforcement assistance have already been drawn by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and because Apple does not own or control the device in question.