Feds dig up law from 1789 to demand Apple, Google decrypt smartphones, slabs
The FBI has made it no secret that it hates Apple and Google's efforts to encrypt files in your smartphones and tablets. Now court documents have emerged showing just how far the Feds are willing to go to decrypt citizens' data. The paperwork has shown two cases where federal prosecutors have cited the All Writs Act – which was enacted in 1789 as part of the Judiciary Act – to force companies to decrypt information on gadgets. The Act, which was signed into law by none other than George Washington and later revised in the 20th century, gives the courts the right to...issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law. That's a pretty broad remit, but the Feds think it's just the thing to force Apple and others to break down privacy protections.