Writs Act Update: Apple and Google are together fighting the All Writs Act, nationwide
Apple and Google are together fighting the All Writs Act, nationwide.
In a report published and compiled by maps of every state, both the tech giants are now compelled to give in to hack mobile devices in the name of All Writs Act.
The FBI was able to crack the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, but the overall fight against encryption is far from over.On Wednesday, an interesting map plotting all of the instances where the government has compelled Apple and Google to unlock a mobile device was pretty clear that Apple are more at war than Google.
Like in San Bernardino case, the ACLU found that government has been trying to use the All Writs Act since 2008 to force these companies to provide assistance in cracking their customers' phones. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) was able to bring out at least 76 confirmed cases in 22 states where the government has filed for an order under the All Writs Act. In addition, Apple themselves have identified 12 pending cases in its court documents, and the ACLU has found one additional case in Massachusetts, although that one remains unconfirmed because of lack of publicly available information.
The site mentioned "The FBI wants you to think that it will use the All Writs act only in extraordinary cases to force Tech companies and compel them to unlock their respective manufactured phones. But these kinds of filing are now common" While most of the requests are against Apple with only some against Google, about six of the total states in the United states of America have applied for orders against both the firms.
Most of the cases have been turned into, are because of drug crimes. Most investigations were conducted by the FBI unsurprisingly. Some of them were also from the Department of Homeland security and the Secret service.
This is just one case which proves that this argument of the Government about it being the report of just a single phone, it clearly indicates that both Apple and Google may still have long time to fight another day under the All writs act.
