CALLED OUT

San Bernardino Victims Blast Apple

To file legal brief backing FBI in encryption fight.

Several of the people who were wounded in December’s San Bernardino terror attack are planning to file a legal brief to appeal to Apple to unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the shooters, a lawyer for the victims said Sunday. Stephen Larson told Reuters the information on Syed Farook’s phone extends beyond the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. “They were targeted by terrorists, and they need to know why, how this could happen,” Larson said. Larson said he was contacted a week ago by the Justice Department and prosecutors about representing the victims. He plans to file an amicus brief in court by early March. Apple has refused to help the FBI gain access to Farook’s phone, arguing that it would set a dangerous precedent. FBI Director James Comey said late Sunday night that authorities are not looking to “break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” according to a statement. “We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly.”