The Legal Question at the Core of the Apple Encryption Standoff

Apple CEO Tim Cook claims that if his company helps the FBI get into a dead terrorist’s iPhone, a precedent would be set that has “implications far beyond” this case. But is that true in the legal sense? Technologically speaking, it should be possible for Apple to cooperate with law enforcement - as telecommunications companies have done for 100 years - in this particular case without compromising the tough encryption standards now baked into its phones. So the question then becomes: would this cooperation actually set an unwanted legal precedent for Apple?

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