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Last December, Saudi citizen Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani killed three US soldiers in a shooting at the Pensacola air base in Florida, before being killed by the base's security personnel.

Now, a month after the event, US Attorney General Bill Barr and the FBI have asked Apple to unlock two iPhones owned by Alshamrani for believing they could hold key information to understand the reasons for the shooting, classified as a terrorist attack by the US government.

"We have asked Apple for their help in unlocking the attacker's iPhones. So far, Apple has not provided us with substantial assistance. This situation perfectly illustrates why it is essential that investigators can access digital evidence once they have a court order. "Barr explained in a press conference.

Saeed Alshamrani was part of a group of Saudi air force soldiers participating in a training program with members of the US military. On December 6, he opened fire on a group of soldiers in one of the barracks at the base and killed three people and wounded eight others.

After being killed, security personnel found two iPhones. One, an iPhone 5, would have been shot by Alshamrani himself in an attempt to destroy evidence of the attack. The other, an iPhone 7, could be your personal mobile.

The FBI has managed to restore the iPhone 5 , but, like the iPhone 7, it is locked. The agency, with the help of the attorney general, has asked Apple to unlock both terminals.

This is the second case of terrorism that has forced the US government. to make a request of these characteristics. Last 2016 the FBI tried for months to force Tim Cook's hand to unlock the iPhone of one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shooting in California.

The company flatly refused, resorting to the court order that forced it to do so, and the FBI finally stopped insisting after obtaining access to an advanced forensic tool for which it paid more than $ 800,000.

On this occasion, Apple's response has been similar. "We reject the claim that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the investigation of Pensacola. We responded to each request quickly, in a matter of hours, sharing information with the FBI offices in Jacksonville, Pensacola and New York," explains the company in a statement.

The company, however, refuses to help unlock the terminal, a process for which it would be necessary to create a special version of the iOS operating system with a 'backdoor' that would allow researchers to circumvent the lock code and encryption of the data stored in the phone.

" We have always maintained that there is no 'back door' only for the good ones . We believe that encryption is vital to protect our country and the data of our users," explains the company, which in recent years has turned privacy and respect for personal data in one of the pillars of the marketing of their phones and their main differentiation compared to phones with Android operating system.

Several civil rights protection organizations have pointed out that these requests by security forces jeopardize the freedoms of individuals and constitutional rights and that there is no possibility of ensuring that this type of tools demanded by the Government of USA are not also used by authoritarian regimes or against the interests of Americans.

The attorney general, in any case, explained that the Trump administration is considering formulating new laws that allow security forces to access encrypted phones in cases of threats to national security.

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