The FBI director just got grilled by Congress about the San Bernardino iPhone by Kif Leswing on Mar 1, 2016, 2:43 PM Advertisement
 On Tuesday, Democrat John Conyers asked a very pointed question to FBI Director James Comey, who is seeking to force Apple to build custom software to access encrypted data on a terrorist's iPhone. Conyers asked: "Given that Congress has explicitly denied you that authority so far, can you appreciate our frustration that this case appears to be little more than an end-run around committee?" The question revealed Conyers' deep skepticism for the FBI's court order to Apple, and implies Conyers believes that Comey is only going through the courts because legislators have declined to write laws requiring technology companies to provide backdoors. "First of all I don't recall a time where I've asked for a particular legislative fix. In fact, the administration's position has been they're not seeking legislation at this time," Comey replied. The exchange took place during a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Apple has insisted that the issue over one of the San Bernardino shooter's locked iPhone is one that would be best handled by Congress. Conyers, the longest-serving member of Congress, and other members of the House Judiciary Committee, appear to agree with Apple. In fact, Congressmen of both parties seemed generally skeptical of Comey's testimony on Tuesday. - Ohio Republican Steve Chabot cornered Comey into admitting that smaller businesses than Apple might be severely burdened by similar requests.
- New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler asked about whether the iPhone had its iCloud password changed, and forced Comey into admitting that a "mistake" was made
- California Republican Darell Issa focused on berating Comey about whether the FBI even understood on a technical level what it was asking Apple to do
- California Democrat Zoe Lofgren corrected a Comey assertion that Apple's iCloud had not been hacked.
- Texas Republican Ted Poe said that "Congress should decide this, not the judiciary system," and pressed Comey to answer. (He said there's a "huge role for Congress to play.")
Apple's top lawyer, Bruce Sewell, will testify on a panel later on Tuesday, joined by Cyrus Vance, district attorney for Manhattan, and Susan Landau, a former Google privacy analyst and current professor. You can watch the entire hearing here:
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