Apple rejects order to unlock gunman's phone

Apple says it will contest a court order to help FBI investigators access data on the phone belonging to San Bernardino gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook.  

The company had been ordered to help the FBI circumvent security software on Farook's iPhone, which the FBI says contained crucial information.  

Apple says even its own staff cannot access the data. 

In a statement, the Chief Executive of the company, Tim Cook said the US government demanded that Apple takes an unprecedented step which threatened the security of its customers. 

He said the company opposed the order, because it has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.  

Since September 2014, data on the latest Apple devices such as text messages and photographs  have been encrypted by default.  

If a device is locked, only the user's passcode can be used to access the data.


BBC