苹果VS. FBI：为何能赢第一局？

苹果公司与FBI就是否解锁一名恐怖分子生前的iPhone对峙，本周解锁之争出现意外的转折：法官取消了一场万众期待的听证会。

乍看起来苹果获得了胜利，但总体而言，这只是FBI与科技业之间持久战的最初几个回合而已。以下的简明问答可以让你快速了解本周的相关新闻，以及接下来会发生什么。

为什么法院取消了听证？

你可能还记得，双方最初之所以对簿公堂，是因为FBI希望苹果编写新的代码，解锁一部属于死去恐怖分子的iPhone，但苹果拒绝了。

但突然之间，美国司法部表示，听说有一种解锁iPhone的新方法，可能根本不需要苹果提供帮助。法庭记录披露，美国政府在距原定听证会不到24小时之时从“第三方”处获悉此方法。

那FBI到底要怎样解锁iPhone？

谁也不敢百分百确定，不过计算机学家乔纳森•扎德尔斯基的解释目前来看可能性最大。他猜测，与美国政府有合作关系的电脑取证公司发现了一种复制iPhone关键芯片的方法。苹果的安全设置规定，如果连续十次输入错误的密码，iPhone存储的所有内容会自动删除。但如果能复制芯片，FBI就可以无限次测试iPhone的密码，不用再担心资料被删。

为什么说取消听证是苹果的胜利？

从头到尾，本案都不是针对某一部iPhone（其实手机里有可能没什么重要信息），而是关乎开先例。这正是司法部选中本案的原因，他们想用这个高调的恐怖分子证明，可以用国家安全的名义强令苹果削弱iPhone的加密功能。

FBI最近天天抱怨苹果不愿意解锁，说得仿佛天都要塌了，不过现在看起来FBI并不需要苹果相助，抱怨也就没什么道理了。情势这么一转，美国政府针对苹果高调的法律与公关活动也显得越发笨拙。

对苹果而言，本周的新闻能保证今后不必应政府的要求改写软件。最近与FBI之争也烘托了苹果极力保护隐私的形象。苹果的首席执行官蒂姆•库克主张，消费者应该拥有为个人设备加密的权利，此次争端也让他的观点深入人心。

另一方面，正如《华尔街日报》报道指出的，最近的新闻对苹果并非有百利而无一害，因为苹果的软件可能存在安全漏洞。

现在本案进展如何？

国际法律援助公益组织电子前沿基金会的律师内特•卡多佐称，虽然美国政府应该在4月5日向法院递交一份进展报告，但本案基本上已经了结。

卡多佐在电邮中写道：“至于这次听证会，当然还有可能举行，但可能性不大。FBI是要闹到国会去。”

卡多佐认为，从法理角度看，美国政府的立场一直站不住脚。因此，与其冒险尝试不受欢迎的先例，在法庭上一赌输赢，FBI还不如向议员施压获得更大的权限。

这场争论告一段落了吗？

这更像是一出大戏才演完序幕。作为回应，苹果和其他科技企业会把产品做得更安全。迟早有一天，美国政府会拿着另一款原本破解不了的设备找科技公司麻烦。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

A showdown between Apple and the FBI over a dead terrorist’s iPhone took a surprise twist this week, when a judge canceled a highly anticipated hearing at the 11th hour.

This came as a victory for Apple AAPL -0.50% but, overall, it is still early innings in what is likely to be a long and bruising battle between the FBI and the tech industry. Here’s a plain English Q&A to get you up to speed on this week’s news, and what will happen next.

Why was the court hearing canceled?

The two sides, you may recall, are in court in the first place because the FBI wants Apple to write new code that would unlock an iPhone belonging to a dead terrorist. Apple is refusing.

Then, all of a sudden, the Justice Department said it heard about a new way to unlock the iPhone and probably doesn’t need Apple’s help after all. A court transcript reveals the government learned this from a “third party” less than 24 hours before the hearing.

So how exactly is the FBI going to unlock the iPhone?

No one is 100% sure but the best explanation is by computer scientist Jonathan Zdziarski. He suspects one of the forensic companies on contract for the U.S. government found a way to replicate a key chip in the iPhone. The ability to replace the chip means the FBI can try many times to guess the phone’s password—and subvert an Apple security feature that erases the contents of an iPhone if someone enters the wrong password 10 times.

So why was this a victory for Apple?

All along, this case has been less about this specific iPhone (which likely contains nothing important) and more about setting a precedent. That’s why the Justice Department chose this case, involving a high-profile terrorist, to argue Apple should be forced to weaken the iPhone’s encryption in the name of national security.

The FBI’s recent sky-is-falling rhetoric now sounds less credible since the agency doesn’t appear to need Apple after all. This shift also makes the government’s very public legal and PR campaign against the company look more heavy-handed than before.

For Apple, the news ensures it will not have to rewrite its software at the request of the government. The recent events have also bolstered Apple’s role as a privacy champion, and strengthened the case of CEO Tim Cook that consumers should be able to encrypt their devices. (On the other hand, as The Wall Street Journalnotes, the recent news is not all good for Apple since it suggests the company’s software has security holes.)

So what happens with the case now?

While the government is supposed to file a status report with the court on April 5, the case is basically over, according to Nate Cardozo, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“Regarding whether this hearing ever takes place, it’s certainly possible but doesn’t seem at all likely. FBI is taking this fight to Congress,” Cardozo said by email.

Cardozo believes the government has been on shaky legal ground all along and that, rather than risk an unfavorable precedent, the FBI will press lawmakers to grant it new powers rather than roll the dice in court.

Is this the end of the debate?

More like the end of the beginning. Apple and other tech companies will respond to this week’s events by making their devices even more secure, and it’s only a matter of time until there is another case where the government demands access to a supposedly unbreakable device.