Former NYPD commissioner: Apple should comply over encryption

The former commissioner of the New York City Police Department said Apple should comply with a judge’s order to unlock an encrypted iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino, California, terrorists. 

{mosads}Ray Kelly said the balance between privacy and security is a “difficult situation,” but “ultimately it has to come down on the side of the government here.”

“That’s the way our system of laws work,” Kelly told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 New York on Sunday. “You shouldn’t be able to sort of put information or put items or put people beyond the reach of an appropriately issued warrant.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday said he would not “hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers.”

Kelly said he was surprised that the government made the case public, rather than under a sealed order.

“It looks like they were perhaps going to do this in confidence, they were going to do it in a closed setting, but apparently the government decided not to issue this order under seal, but to do it in public,” he said. “So, this is what we’re told now triggered Tim Cook’s reaction.”

“But in order for him to sort of assuage his customer base, he’s going to have to fight this pretty hard now that it’s out in public,” he added. “I was surprised initially as to why they just didn’t do it, you know, out of the public eye.”

The former top cop also said the case could make it to the Supreme Court.

“He is going to have to now take this to court and exhaust his remedies, so it may very well make it to the Supreme Court,” he said of Cook.