WASHINGTON ¨C FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel on Tuesday that a final court ruling forcing Apple Inc to give the FBI data from an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters would be ¡°potentially precedential¡± in other cases where the agency might request similar cooperation from technology companies.
The remarks were a slight change to Comey¡¯s statement last week that ordering Apple to unlock the phone was ¡°unlikely to be a trailblazer¡± for setting a precedent for other cases.
Tuesday¡¯s testimony from Comey and remarks before the same U.S. House Judiciary Committee by Apple¡¯s general counsel, Bruce Sewell, brought to Congress a public fight between Apple and the government over the dueling interests of privacy and security that has so far only been heard in the courts.
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