FBI Wants Access to 12 Other iPhones

In the midst of a legal battle between the FBI and Apple, the Justice Department is now pursuing court orders to compel the company to assist in extracting data from iPhones in at least 12 additional cases. Officials have said the other cases do not involve terrorism charges, unlike the highly publicized dispute involving a government search warrant to unlock a San Bernardino gunman’s iPhone. Apple has refused to comply, but prosecutors have sought to use an 18th-century law to force the company to help them bypass the phones’ security features. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that unlocking the gunman’s phone for the FBI would set “a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties.”