nitrokev

tenly said:

"First of all, we're not asking for a backdoor, nor are we asking anyone to turn anything on to spy on anyone," Lynch said. "We're asking them to do is do what their customer wants. The real owner of the phone is the county, the employer of one of the terrorists who's now dead."

The owner of the iPhone itself may be the county - but the owner of the data on it belongs to the person who protected it with a passcode - not the county.  Just because you buy or otherwise obtain a used iPhone, you do not become the owner of any data that was left on it.

Hey - here's an unrelated question.  I have an iPhone protected by the Activation Lock feature.  Nobody has my Apple ID password.  What happens if I die unexpectedly?  If I bequeath the phone to my son - how will he be able to get past the Activation Lock in order to set it up with his Apple ID?  Will Apple disable the Activation Lock upon presentation of a death certificate?

A lot of people are starting to leave their passwords in their will, that way your son could unlock your phone once you have gone, and no apple don't unlock even with a certificate