U.S. presses bid to force Apple to unlock iPhone in New York

WASHINGTON --In the next battleground in the Department of Justice's fight to unlock some of Apple's well-encrypted iPhones, the agency Friday pressed ahead with its efforts to get access to a locked phone linked to a methamphetamine ring in Brooklyn.

Although the FBI unlocked a phone last month, ending its prominent legal battle with Apple in the case involving the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, the Department of Justice on Friday told a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York that it still needs the technology giant's help to unlock the phone in the Brooklyn case.

It is seeking to overturn an earlier order from another judge in Brooklyn who sided with Apple and said the Department of Justice had overreached in trying to force the company to give it access to an encrypted iPhone used by a convicted drug dealer.

In its letter Friday, the Department of Justice said that "the government's ap

plication is not moot and the government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant." A lawyer for Apple said the company was disappointed but not surprised by the government's decision to press ahead with the Brooklyn case. The lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity at the company's insistence, said he believed that the Department of Justice was pushing the case not because of the value of the information in the phone, but rather to set a precedent that could be used to get into dozens of locked iPhones nationwide.

The FBI's fight with Apple over the iPhone used by one of the attackers in San Bernardino in December ended abruptly after the bureau paid an outside firm -- which company and how much is still unknown -- to demonstrate a way around two defense mechanisms in the phone.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 11:37 PM with the headline "U.S. presses bid to force Apple to unlock iPhone in New York ."