In the future, if the FBI wins its court battle against Apple and forces the company to unlock the iPhone and create a backdoor, some Apple engineers may simply say they do not want to help law enforcement with unlocking the iPhone.
Some Apple employees who may be called by the FBI to help them unlock the iPhone are already considering future plans if Apple were to lose this case, via The New York Times. This was after a handful of interviews with security experts at Apple.
Apple employees are already discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees.
If the FBI were to win the case, Apple would have to comply and create a special version of iOS that would allow law enforcement and potentially unauthorized users to infinitely guess the passcode on any iOS device without restrictions.
This would also allow them to enter the passcode electronically, rather than by hand. Apple has said that if this is true, it would take four to ten engineers over the span of two to four weeks to get it working.
Theoretically, if Apple engineers decide to not comply with the FBI, this could result in further delay and could create a larger legal tension between the two. As the report points out, it would be fairly difficult to create what Apple calls “GovtOS” without Apple’s key engineers and it is well aware of who will be called up to take the task at hand.
They include an engineer who developed software for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. That engineer previously worked at an aerospace company. Another is a senior quality-assurance engineer who is described as an expert “bug catcher” with experience testing Apple products all the way back to the iPod. A third likely employee specializes in security architecture for the operating systems powering the iPhone, Mac and Apple TV.
If Apple were to refuse to comply with the court order, it may have to pay some hefty fines for non-compliance.
