Apple Rejects Justice Dep't Request to Provide Messages Over Drug Probe

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to The New York Times’ Monday report, Apple told the Justice Department that its iMessage system was encrypted, therefore it could not comply.

The newspaper claimed that several senior Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials advocated taking Apple to court over its refusal to comply.

The Justice Department is currently in a court dispute with Microsoft, another US technology giant. In 2013, the company did not provide emails from a suspected drug trafficker, stating the US federal officials would need to get an order from Irish court as the servers with the emails were located in Dublin, according to the newspaper.

Apple’s new operating system iOS 8, which makes it impossible for the company itself to access information stored on devices, was unveiled last September. Several high-ranking US officials spoke out against such measures, as law enforcement agencies would not be able to obtain information from Apple even if they had a warrant.

US intelligence agencies have been under public scrutiny since 2013, when whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other agencies carried out extensive and illegal surveillance operations on both US citizens and foreign leaders.