San Bernardino survivor's husband sides with Apple in amicus brief

Salihin Kondoker, the husband of a survivor of the San Bernardino terror attack, has filed an amicus brief with a California court. The brief, in favor of Apple, says that it is unlikely that the Apple iPhone 5c used by deceased terrorist Sayed Farrok contains any useful information. Kondoker bases this on his wife's personal experience.

Like Farook, Kondoker's wife worked for the San Bernardino County Health Department and like the terrorist, she received an Apple iPhone 5c from the Health Department to use for work. She never used her work-provided iPhone for personal conversations or to hold personal data. Thus, her husband believes that Farook wouldn't have kept information on the device that would be related to his life as a terrorist.

Apple is being asked by the government to unlock the phone using a unique OS that is required to pull out content inside the handset. Apple fears that by producing this so-called GovtOS, the software could fall into the wrong hands, compromising the security of every iPhone user in the world. Apple also fears that the government is looking beyond a single iPhone.

Even though his wife is a survivor of the attack, Salihin says that Apple should hold firm. "When I first learned Apple was opposing the order I was frustrated that it would be yet another roadblock. But as I read more about their case, I have come to understand their fight is for something much bigger than one phone," he said.


Apple got some good news on Monday when a Magistrate in Brooklyn ruled that the DOJ could not issue a court order forcing Apple to open an iPhone belonging to a drug dealer. That ruling though, was narrowly based as the Magistrate rejected the government's use of a federal statute called the All Writs Act as a way to force Apple to unlock the phone.

Other San Bernardino victims and their families are planning on filing an amicus brief with the court on behalf of the government. Besides the filing by Kondoker, Apple is expected to receive such briefs from other tech firms like Google, Facebook and Microsoft.


source: AppleInsider