Privacy v. national security

Apple-FBI fight over iPhone encryption pits privacy against national security

A court order requiring Apple to create a way to help law enforcement get access to a terrorist's smartphone amounts to an "unprecedented" stretch of an antiquated law — one that is likely to spark an epic fight pitting privacy against national security, legal scholars said Thursday.

Typically, law enforcement has filed for warrants under seal, and courts have issued orders under seal, to protect the confidentiality of ongoing criminal investigations.

But a federal judge in New York decided last fall to unseal portions of such a case. It revealed that Apple had turned over information to law enforcement about 70 times in recent years, according to the government, based on court orders citing an obscure 1789 law called the All Writs Act. The act, passed in the judiciary's infancy, allowed courts to issue orders if other judicial tools were unavailable.