Apple is so inundated with demands from police departments and government agencies to decrypt seized iPhones that it has started a waiting list for requests from law enforcement.
It should probably not come as a big shocker that cops and federal law enforcement agencies are looking to decrypt seized iPhones in large quantities, but what is somewhat amusing is that, apparently, there's not a single entity within the U.S. government with the ability to bypass Apple's security.
CNET first reported the story, citing court records that indicate the ATF was in pursuit of a suspected Kentucky crack dealer when his encrypted iPhone 4S began obstructing the investigation:
Court documents show that federal agents were so stymied by the encrypted iPhone 4S of a Kentucky man accused of distributing crack cocaine that they turned to Apple for decryption help last year.
An agent at the ATF, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, "contacted Apple to obtain assistance in unlocking the device," U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell wrote in a recent opinion. But, she wrote, the ATF was "placed on a waiting list by the company."
A search warrant affidavit prepared by ATF agent Rob Maynard says that, for nearly three months last summer, he "attempted to locate a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency with the forensic capabilities to unlock" an iPhone 4S. But after each police agency responded by saying they "did not have the forensic capability," Maynard resorted to asking Cupertino.
Apparently Maynard wasn't the only one. The law enforcement waiting list to decrypt seized iPhones was already so long that Maynard was told there would be at least a seven-week delay. CNET reports the ATF agent's request likely took at least four months to process.
