The ACLU is suing for more information about the FBIs phone-hacking lab

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a new lawsuit demanding information about the FBI’s Electronic Device Analysis Unit (EDAU) — a forensic unit that the ACLU believes has been quietly breaking the iPhone’s local encryption systems.

“The FBI is secretly breaking the encryption that secures our cell phones and laptops from identity thieves, hackers, and abusive governments,” the ACLU said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, “and it refuses to even acknowledge that it has information about these efforts.”

The FBI has made few public statements about the EDAU, but the lawsuit cites a handful of cases in which prosecutors have submitted a “Mobile Device Unlock Request” and received data from a previously locked phone. The...

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