Brooklyn case takes front seat in Apple encryption fight

NEW YORK (AP) – The Justice Department says it will continue trying to force Apple to reveal a phone’s data in a New York drug case.

The government told a Brooklyn judge Friday it still wants an order requiring Apple’s cooperation even though it no longer needs the company’s help with a phone linked to a mass shooting in California.

An Apple lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Justice Department recently dropped a legal fight to compel Apple to help it break into an iPhone used by a gunman in the December attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people.

In Brooklyn, a magistrate judge had blocked the government from forcing Apple to help in the Brooklyn case. The government appealed to a district judge.

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