FBI Wanted To Take Apple To Court Over Texts

Senior FBI officials wanted the US government to take Apple to court after it refused to hand over text messages linked to a drug and gun investigation, it has been claimed.

A report in the New York Times says top executives at both the FBI and US Justice Department advocated legal action when Apple did not comply with a request.

Investigators at the Justice Department wanted to get hold of text messages sent between to iPhone-using suspects in real time over the summer.

But Apple responded by pointing out that its iMessage system is encrypted and it has no way to comply.

The prospect of legal action has since been shelved, but it sheds a light on an increasingly contentious issue.

Many governments want access to data, in some circumstances, if it can be used to fight crime or protect national security.

But modern encryption – which is being rolled out on devices manufactured by firms like Apple – means that the data cannot be handed over to authorities at all.

Apple uses end-to-end encryption meaning it has no access to messages unless they are uploaded to the cloud.

The US government is also in a legal tussle with Microsoft, which has refused to turn over emails from a drug trafficking suspect.

It refused to comply with a warrant in December 2013, saying officials would have to get a court order from an Irish court as that’s where the servers storing the emails were located.

US courts have insisted Microsoft hands over the data, and an appeal hearing is scheduled on Wednesday for Microsoft to overturn the order.