I'm putting on my pragmatism hat.
I can't understand why Apple are fighting this. They're essentially forcing the government into resorting to legal mechanisms that will have longer term impacts.
It's pretty clear to nearly everyone that this phone belonged to someone who committed a terrorist attack. The data on it may prove useful in preventing future attacks. If Apple were being cooperative, they could create the mechanism to get the data off the phone, have the FBI hand over the phone so they could do that for them, (optionally) delete that version of the OS if there's a problem with it even existing, and no legal precedent would be set. The question of whether the FBI should be able to compel them wouldn't arise, because they would have been cooperating off their own accord.
If the FBI asks them to do this to the iPhone of someone who is more likely to be innocent, perhaps then this debate should be had. For now, they have the means, can do it without setting a precedent, have a pretty good reason to do it, and can do it in isolation. They should just do it, in my opinion.
I can't understand why Apple are fighting this. They're essentially forcing the government into resorting to legal mechanisms that will have longer term impacts.
It's pretty clear to nearly everyone that this phone belonged to someone who committed a terrorist attack. The data on it may prove useful in preventing future attacks. If Apple were being cooperative, they could create the mechanism to get the data off the phone, have the FBI hand over the phone so they could do that for them, (optionally) delete that version of the OS if there's a problem with it even existing, and no legal precedent would be set. The question of whether the FBI should be able to compel them wouldn't arise, because they would have been cooperating off their own accord.
If the FBI asks them to do this to the iPhone of someone who is more likely to be innocent, perhaps then this debate should be had. For now, they have the means, can do it without setting a precedent, have a pretty good reason to do it, and can do it in isolation. They should just do it, in my opinion.