Somehow Apple has managed to keep its signing key from getting out into the wild.  Only Apple knows the systems required to keep that safe.<p>The same cannot be said of signed copies of software.<p>&gt; If they ask for the software, Apple should deny that request because that&#x27;s very different from asking for assistance on a case-by-case basis with a court order for each one.<p>If it comes to that, I&#x27;m sure they will put up the same fight.  What&#x27;s the difference to you whether they fight now or later?  Must Apple act exactly as you would?<p>&gt; The question reasonable, non-technical people are going to ask is: how is this different than asking to search a house. There&#x27;s a court order, it&#x27;s not just the FBI acting on its own. They&#x27;re asking Apple to do it, and not hand over a master key, which would not be reasonable at all.<p>To those reasonable, non-technical people I would say the following: &quot;If we create special signed software for the government for unlocking the iPhone, then terrorists will just use something else that is out of the reach of our government. We will have weakened our privacy and this will not keep us safe from terrorism.  If the signed software gets into the wrong hands, it could be used by anyone in the world to hack into iPhones and get location data on your kids, your home, and other information you&#x27;d rather keep private.&quot;