flatrock

horvatic said:

You can't limit anything after you open the door. Once the door is open that's it. And it would also set a precedent that they could ask any company at anytime to do the same which means all privacy would be GONE! It's not just about 1 phone or one company. It's about all companies and all products would no longer have any privacy period. It would also mean that communist countries would have free rain of our information as well.

If that were the case, the FBI could just hack the OS binary and disable the password attempt lockout themselves. When the FBI says it is just for that phone, they literally mean it will only run on that phone. They want Apple to not only disable to password attempt lockout, but to make it so that OS version will only load on the iPhone with the specific hardware ID. The iPhone hardware prevents it from executing the OS if it isn't signed using Apple's key. If you modify the binary, the signature is no longer valid. The exact same security protection that prevent the FBI or anyone else loading a hacked version of iOS on the phone, would prevent Apple's modified version from being able to be used on any other phone. Either that security feature works, or it doesn't, Cook can't have it both ways. If it doesn't work, then there is a huge, gaping security hole in iOS if you have the physical phone. If it does work, then the risk is limited to Apple not making sure the OS can only load on a phone with a specific hardware id. Apple is also permitted to do this all at their site and can load the old OS back on the phone before allowing it out of their hands, which means that it will only get out in the wild if Apple screws up. There is never zero risk, but the risks are no more significant that any other change to Apple's security software, and Apple maintains control over them.