> they fear this could be reverse engineered by baddies in order to make the phones of others' less secure
But isn't the procedure already pretty straightforward and well known?
1) Make a build of iOS which has the pin timeout feature disabled.
2) Sign that with Apple's private key.
3) Flash onto the iPhone.
That's more or less it, right?
What's keeping the general public safe isn't some sort of secret or obscure procedure. The general public's safety is in Apple keeping that private key private. And the FBI isn't asking for their private key, they're just asking that Apple use it in private, just like they normally do when they push out normal updates.
But isn't the procedure already pretty straightforward and well known?
1) Make a build of iOS which has the pin timeout feature disabled.
2) Sign that with Apple's private key.
3) Flash onto the iPhone.
That's more or less it, right?
What's keeping the general public safe isn't some sort of secret or obscure procedure. The general public's safety is in Apple keeping that private key private. And the FBI isn't asking for their private key, they're just asking that Apple use it in private, just like they normally do when they push out normal updates.
Am I missing something?