San Bernardino DA says seized iPhone may hold “dormant cyber pathogen”

Ars Technica:

The San Bernardino District Attorney told a federal judge late Thursday that Apple must assist the authorities in unlocking the iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the two San Bernardino shooters that killed 14 people in a killing rampage in December. The phone, which was a county work phone issued to Farook as part of his Health Department duties, may have been the trigger to unleash a “cyber pathogen,” county prosecutors said in a brief court filing.

Jonathan Zdziarski, a prominent iPhone forensics expert, said in a telephone interview that the district attorney is suggesting that a “magical unicorn might exist on this phone.”

But if there’s even a slight chance to find a magical unicorn (which is redundant, by the way), shouldn’t law enforcement do everything in its power to discover such a creature? What is Apple trying to hide here? Why won’t they help the FBI discover this creature? Is it discrimination against mythical horses? Did a unicorn hurt Tim Cook as a child? Enquiring minds want to know.

And the The San Bernardino District Attorney is an idiot.