I do not think you have actually read enough about this specific case. For example: the govt is not asking for "the FBI to get into every Apple phone".
If you disagree with this assertion, please provide a link where govt is asking for that.
The implication that this is just about one phone is what is so demonstrably false. And it is people like you who we must seek to inform. The FBI has hundreds, if not thousands of iPhones they wish to unlock in this manner. Google it.
Further, what the DOJ does not understand is that if Apple provides the tool for opening this phone, then the government and any hackers who get ahold of that tool will be able to access any phone with the same specifications. As Tim Cook puts it, it'd be the software equivalent of cancer.
Even if the FBI has thousands of phones it wishes to unlock with a valid court order, where is the problem? Why are you against this in principle? How is your phone fundamentally different to your house?
Regarding it being like cancer - why? How can it not be like smallpox? What is hard about clean rooming these phones and hacking them?
On Tuesday, Comey said the FBI is asking for access to that specific phone but understood the decision would set a precedent for similar cases.
Asked how many iPhones the FBI would like Apple to unlock, Comey said he could not name a number but that there were "a lot" of phones that hold information needed for law enforcement investigations.
Again, I don't think you've really read what the govt is asking: yes this would set the precedent for them to request via a valid search warrant and on a case by case basis to open maybe even "a lot" of phones. My point is - grabbing the master keys would give them access to all.
Once they set precedent to get Apple to provide them with the software they need, why do you think they won't later compel Apple to provide them with the keys to let them unlock any phone?
Surely it's going to become a burden if the government has to go through Apple for every single unlock request - there may be thousands of them, so for convenience, why wouldn't they demand the software to do it themselves?
It seems like gaining access to this dead guy's phone is not really what the FBI is after - they can already get his call records and SMS's from the carriers, there's not likely to be any actionable information left on the phone.
Yes, this sets the precedent that the govt may request, with a valid court order, to compel Apple to help grab information from a specific phone.
The point I'm trying to make (repeatedly through this thread, which everyone seems to ignore) is that this is a pretty reasonable request.
Notice that it becoming a burden for the govt to request this through Apple every time is in no way a reason why the govt would legally be allowed to "demand the software to do it themselves". In fact, as every single case would require a court order, the hassle of the court order is likely a magnitude greater than asking Apple to comply.
For the govt to "demand the software to do it themselves" would be an entirely new court case. In fact, it is this very case that I do not want to see.
To not think this is where it is headed is naive. Just like the original claim of only one phone was laughable. The FBI wants to get a precedence now so that they can prevent Apple from ever making a phone that cannot be broken into. That is what this case is about and has always been about since the beginning. It is also why Apple took a stand here.
If you disagree with this assertion, please provide a link where govt is asking for that.