Name:   copperline - Subject:   Apple loses in high stakes game Date:   3/29/2016 8:26:48 AM

I have a theory about this one...   Apple didn't want to cross the line and give the Government access to crack these phones because it contradicts their position on privacy and they stood by the limits that this places on government intrusion into personal data.   Many people like the idea that the government can be limited in this way.   However, it put Apple in the position of interfering with an investigation into terrorism, and put them on the wrong side of that argument.   

I wonder if the solution was this identification of an unknown software engineer who was not an Apple employee who could show the Feds how to get in the back door.   Apple can say they didn't permit the cracking of their software, and the Feds can back off.   It was a clean solution to a messy & protracted legal battle for both sides.