It’s a win for privacy advocates, but it’s sure to enrage law enforcement officials by making it harder than ever for them to get information out of locked phones.
The news: Apple plans to send out a software update to iPhone users that will make the smartphone’s charging and data port inoperative an hour after the phone has been locked. Though you’ll still be able to charge a phone without tapping in a password, you’ll now need one to pull data off it via that port.
Why it matters: Apple has a history of fighting law enforcement efforts to force it to help unlock people’s iPhones—even if it might help snag a suspect. In a case that made plenty of headlines in 2016, it refused to help the FBI get into a phone that mass shooter Syed Rizwan used before he and his wife killed 14 people and wounded 22 others in San Bernardino, California.
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