Apple Inc. told a Brooklyn federal magistrate judge that the government has obtained about a dozen court orders since October to help unlock devices across the country, including an attempt to have Apple assist in the decryption of an iPhone linked to a mass killing in California.
The technology giant shared the information with Eastern District Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who is considering making Apple assist in unlocking an iPhone in a narcotics case, even though the defendant has pleaded guilty. It comes as Apple in a separate case continues to fight an order from a Central District of California magistrate judge to provide “reasonable technical assistance” in law enforcement efforts to unlock the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook who with his wife carried out a terror attack in San Bernardino, California.
