USA: 'Give us time to pick the lock' - FBI director tells Apple

SOT, Ted Poe, US Representative (English): "So rather than giving you the key, it's really that you want Apple to turn the security system off so they or you can get into the phone?"
SOT, James Comey, FBI Director (English): "My homely metaphor was, take away the drooling watch dog that's gonna attack us if we try and open it, give us time to pick the lock."
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James B. Comey and Apple's general counsel Bruce Sewell testified before a US congressional hearing in Washington DC, Tuesday, over the issue of encryption.
Lawmakers queried the FBI's on the bureau's demands that Apple unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone 5c. Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 and wounded 22 in a shooting spree in the California city on December 2.
Comey used colourful language to illustrate the law enforcement agency's request. My homely metaphor was, take away the drooling watch dog that's gonna attack us if we try and open it, give us time to pick the lock," he explained.
Sewell was defiant in defence of the tech giant's policy, warning of the dangers by using the slippery slope argument. "The FBI has asked the court to order us to give them something that we don't have, to create an operating system that does not exist. The reason it doesn't exist is because it would be too dangerous. They're asking for a back door into the iPhone, specifically to build a software tool that can break the encryption system which protects personal information on every iPhone. As we've told them, and as we've told the American public, building that software tool would not just affect one iPhone. It would weaken the security for all of them," he posited.
Apple's general counsel Sewell, also Senior Vice President of Legal and Government Affairs at the company also appealed to those in the court room by reminding them of just how much information can be stored on an iPhone. "Some of you may have an iPhone in your pocket right now, and if you think about it there's probably more information stored on that device than a thief could steal by breaking into your house. The only way we know how to protect that information is through strong encryption," he said.