Apple, FBI stake out conflicting positions before Congress

Tuesday's hearing shifted attention from the courts — where judges in the last month have issued significant but conflicting opinions — to Congress, where both sides say the broader policy debate belongs.

The strong positions articulated Tuesday make clear the deep divide between Silicon Valley and the government, even as the administration advocates open dialogue and resolution.

The FBI wants specialized software that would bypass security protocols on the encrypted phone so investigators can test random passcode combinations in rapid sequence to access its data.

Should Apple create the specialized software to allow the FBI to hack the iPhone, Comey said it would take 26 minutes to do what's known as a brute force attack — testing multiple passcodes in quick succession.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, a critic of the administration's domestic surveillance practices, asked Comey whether the FBI had first asked Apple for the underlying iPhone software — called source code by developers — before trying to force the company to create its own digital workaround.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told the House panel Tuesday that there are 205 phones his investigators can't access in criminal investigations.

Alex Abdo, a staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union's speech, privacy and technology project, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the larger debate is "ultimately about whether we trust our devices."