The court of New York: the authorities can not require Apple to force unlock the smartphone

The Federal Court of New York yesterday issued a verdict that law enforcement agencies have no right to demand from Apple assistance in forcing the unlocking of a smartphone confiscated from a drug dealer in New York. This lawsuit went hand in hand with the Apple process against the FBI in San Bernandino (California), which has every chance of reaching the Supreme Court.

Assistance to a third party in the investigation of a criminal case is provided for by the All Writs Act of 1789 (current version from 1911). In October 2015, Apple challenged a court order issued, and the federal court in the Eastern District of New York requested additional information from the conflicting parties on the case to decide whether the All Writs Act gives the government the right to demand the manufacturer to unlock the smartphone. The verdict is this: the government has no such right, because it violates the US Constitution (the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech and guarantees the company the right to “not be forced to speak”).

The verdict is very important as a precedent in the judicial interpretation of the All Writs Act in the light of Apple’s parallel process against the FBI, where intelligence agencies require Apple to use its personal backdoor (access to iPhone firmware) to crack the cryptographic protection of iPhone 5c confiscated from terrorists. Apple does not want to share its backdoor with the FBI, because it puts all other users at risk and gives the FBI too much authority. This story has already been discussed in detail on GT .

The government has repeatedly stressed that there is no connection between the processes in San Bernandino and New York, and each request within the framework of the All Writs Act applies only to a single smartphone.
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Judge Orenstein, however, figured out the case and established such a connection, as well as a connection with the latest legislative initiatives of the special services to install cryptographic backdoors (front doors) in all mobile phones.

Although the cases in San Bernandino and New York differ in technical details and what exactly the authorities want from Apple, but the verdict clearly sets a more specific framework for the application of the All Writs Act, according to lawyers of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Now the security services will be harder to ask Apple to weaken the protection of their devices.

Federal District Court of the Eastern District of New York