FBI should reveal who hacked the San Bernardino iPhone, lawsuit claims
A federal court in Washington DC has issued a summons to the FBI after a group of media organizations filed a suit compelling them to release details about how they hacked an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers.
On Friday, the Associated Press (AP), Gannett newspapers and Vice Media filed a lawsuit to compel the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) to reveal details about the way they gained access earlier this year to the phone belonging to Syed Farook, one of perpetrators of the attack in San Bernardino in December 2015 in which 14 people were killed.
Specifically, the suit asks for the identity of the vendor from whom the FBI purchased the hack which gave them access to Farook’s phone, and how much the bureau paid for it. The suit claims that the public needs to know whether the technique exposes a critical security vulnerability in one of the world’s most popular consumer technology products.
