WASHINGTON, D.C. — Responding to news that the FBI has successfully opened the iPhone from the Apple/FBI dispute and that it will abandon its bid to obtain a court order mandating that Apple unlock the iPhone, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released the following statement:

“This lawsuit may be over, but the Constitutional and privacy questions it raised are not,” said Congressman Darrell Issa. “Those worried about our privacy should stay wary — just because the government was able to get into this one phone does not mean that their quest for a secret key into our devices is over.”

“That the government was able to gain access to the phone without Apple’s help is certainly preferable to issuing a wide-reaching court decision that would grant the government backdoor access into every American’s phone and other devices, but the fundamental question over how we, as citizens, expect our government to be able to access — or not access — our personal information still remains.”

“There most certainly will be other cases and, as we debate these issues as a nation, we must remain critical of government attempts to take advantage of sensitive situations to amass greater government power and control which are almost always at the expense of our personal freedom and privacy.”

BACKGROUND:

Congressman Issa has been a leading tech policy maker and a vocal advocate in support of strong encryption, making several media appearances, writing op-eds in WIRED and the Los Angeles Times, and questioning FBI Director James Comey at a hearing on encryption before the House Judiciary Committee.

Before joining public service, Issa served as CEO of Directed Electronics and previously served as the chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association.

At the height of his career in business, Issa served as CEO of California-based Directed Electronics, a company that Issa founded and built in the mid-1990s to become the nation’s largest manufacturer of vehicle anti-theft devices, including the highly-successful Viper system. In 1994, Issa was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine, Ernst & Young and The San Diego Union Tribune.

During his leadership of Directed Electronics, Issa served as chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association, an organization of 2000 companies within the consumer technology industry that hosts the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.