The FBI wanted Apple to crack Farook's phone; Apple refused; now the FBI has a way to crack ANY 5c iPhone.

But now that the FBI found a solution themselves, it provides them a "master key". Besides this article, Cook was more specific in an interview I saw. He expressed concern that if the Feds had that master key they would, despite promising to not to unlock any but the San Bernardino phone, use it on other iPhones. Beyond that, his largest concern was that any master key solution would not remain a secret and eventually be leaked compromising everyone's iPhone security.

... and the warrant didn't depend on any "promise" to not unlock any other phone: It specifically said the hack would be coded to only run on Farook's phone. Cook's refusal actually brought about the situation he said he wanted to avoid: now the FBI can crack ANY 5C.

Any info found can not be use in court because the phones owner had a reasonable expatiation that their info on their phone was secure and using that info would require the owner to in effect testify against themselves which is a 5th amendment violation.

we know what you meant but it's still a chuckle

Shouldn't hide behind locked phones?

The criminals are to blame. They shouldn't hide behind technicalities.

It would send a message

The message you are trying to send is "ignore the laws and do what we say because we're despicable criminals"

Were I the AG, I'd have considered bringing Cook before a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice if I could make the case that Apple knew how to decrypt the phone.

Sorry - I have no sympathy for Apple and their so-called claims of privacy concerns and 100% sympathy for the FBI in this instance.

You just confirmed my original post that you support felonies to punish innocent people for refusing to do what you want.

14 people were murdered by people with known associates with known bad intent. Whether the associates were ISIS, Al Qaida, The Westies, The Gambino Family, or a Mexican Drug Cartel. Apple should have unlocked the phone if they had the ability.

As if their crime makes your crimes acceptable. Nope.

IMO, if Tim Cook's company had the ability to decrypt the phone, and then refused to do so, he obstructed justice.

I'm not a lawyer. But I don't think you understand the legal requirements for obstruction charges. As far as I can tell, the people whose legal opinion could result in charges think it wasn't obstruction.

email accounts, diaries, notebooks, and tape recordings.

with an appropriate warrant, the government has as much right to hack into an iPhone as it does to break the lock on a storage unit

have the right to compel a company like Apple to help them do it or to provide them a method to do it.

knowing what I know from a number of tech people that I stay in contact with, the feds knew all along how to crack the phone. it wasn't anything new, they wanted to spank down Apple for two reasons, 1) they are getting too big and too powerful (don't get me wrong, I love apple products, but I also believe that there maybe anti-trust issues with them) 2) The feds are trying to exercise their power over corporations. (I think they tried but realized they were biting off more than they could chew...at this time). 3) they publicly say, "we don't need apple, we cracked their phone, so there! Naaa! >sticks out tongue< (childish yes, but effective at showing the American public, that "we feds own you, you can't hide a damn thing from us". governmental cheerleaders love this, people who abide by the slowly decaying Constitution, hate this).

this wasn't a game of chicken a some in the press had enjoy portraying this, this was nothing more than a bait and switch to sucker punch Apple and to "hopefully" take them down a notch.

that really didn't seem to work economically-wise for apple, but the public now has the seed of doubt in their minds about their iphones (this is the fed long game) but sadly, people in general seem to miss the gigantic picture before their very eyes: the government can unlock and peek at anything you are doing...without a warrant or court order. buy hey, that's old school constitutional law, who needs that crap, right?

we are a sad people.

Tim Cook was not fighting to prevent the government any access to private data under warrant.
He was fighting against the government compelling a company to create breach it's own security.
Apple has, in the past, released private data they had access to when the government has provided a valid warrant.

If they were compelled to create back-door access for the government, that back-door, once unmasked, would allow bad actors from any nationality to break into private phones all over the world.
Hacking is so pervasive today, much of it controlled by national governments, it's naive to think that a secret back-door will always remain secret.

The current situation allows Apple find the weakness and patch it for the future.
The flaw will be available to bad actors, and the government, for only a limited time instead of being available in perpetuity.