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FBI Suspected of Manipulating Public Fears in IPhone Court Order

© REUTERS / Mike BlakeFBI and police continue their investigation around the area of the SUV vehicle where two suspects were shot by police following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015
FBI and police continue their investigation around the area of the SUV vehicle where two suspects were shot by police following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Pushing Apple Inc. to provide the FBI with access to encrypted data on the IPhone of the San Bernardino shooter, the agency is using an “emotionally charged” cause to set a precedent that would authorize the surveillance agency to hack all devices regardless of privacy laws, experts suggest.

Amid public fears of terror attacks, the FBI is intentionally using the case of Rizwan Farook, a shooter that last December killed 14 in San Bernardino, California, in its attempts to change encryption policy, in an assault on basic civil rights, privacy advocates said to The Hill.

© REUTERS / Mike BlakeA memorial still remains outside as workers return to work for the first time at the Inland Regional Center (IRC) in San Bernardino, California, January 4, 2016.
A memorial still remains outside as workers return to work for the first time at the Inland Regional Center (IRC) in San Bernardino, California, January 4, 2016. - Sputnik International
A memorial still remains outside as workers return to work for the first time at the Inland Regional Center (IRC) in San Bernardino, California, January 4, 2016.

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The agency has sought to access to the encrypted data on Farook’s IPhone, saying the move is crucial to the investigation of the incident. To support their demands, the FBI demanded and received a special order from a federal judge that would require Apple to create a program that would disable security features on the terrorist’s mobile device.

"It’s a brilliant tactic,” Chris Finan, a former Obama administration cybersecurity adviser claimed. “They realize the public is going to be on their side.”

Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism and cybersecurity chief, states that the FBI is attempting to create precedent, by appealing to common public fears.

“I think the FBI is being very selective here, and it has much more to do with the emotional value and public relations value of the case than it does with the FBI’s real need for the phone,” he told The Hill.

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Apple faces pressure from a California federal court that has issued an order requiring the tech giant to create a program to crack iPhone security. The company has stated that what the FBI requires is the equivalent of a brand-new operating system.

Apple company lawyers wrote in a special filing that “the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe."

The director of the FBI attempted to play down the “precedent” allegations in an op-ed Sunday, claiming the bureau cares only about “victims and justice,” but many industry and security analysts remain unmoved in their assessment of the intelligence agency’s duplicity.

"Absolutely it sets a precedent,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a staunch senate advocate for digital rights.

“Of course it [Farook’s case] has precedential value,” Clarke stated.

FBI director James Comey gestures during a news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - Sputnik International
FBI Director Calls Apple Encryption Demand Limited, Just to Victims
Eileen Decker, US attorney for the Central District of California, used the Bernardino victims' lawyer, Stephen Larson, to get an order from a California court to press Apple. Larson supported the government position under Decker’s request that speeded up the process.

Another fact that shakes the foundations of the FBI’s good intentions is that the IPhone under question, owned, paid for and monitored by the killer’s employer, could not have been used in plotting the attack, as it was casually abandoned in Farook’s car before the shootings.

“Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. Maybe it doesn’t,” Comey wrote in his op-ed, unintentionally contributing to the notion that the case may be used as “precedent” in future.

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