FBI vs. Apple: Massachusetts Judge Sided with Feds in Gang Case, Records Show

Boston, MA - In another case of FBI versus Apple Inc., court documents unsealed Friday show a Massachusetts judge granted the bureau's request for help extracting data from a locked iPhone in connection to a Boston gang case, despite Apple's objections.

A similar question arose during investigations into the San Bernardino shooting earlier this year, shining a spotlight on the battle between the federal agency and the tech giant, and raising questions about user privacy and national security.

That fight also put heightened scrutiny on the Boston case, which involves an iPhone taken from an alleged member of the Columbia Point Dawgs.

• See also: Nearly 50 Columbia Point Dawgs members and affiliates indicted on drug and gun charges.

In February, Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler ordered Apple to provide "reasonable technical assistance" to the FBI in the Boston case, the unsealed records show. According to the judge's order, Apple must assist in extracting data from the phone, including any encrypted data. The company is under no obligation to help decrypt that information, the judge noted.

In a letter to the court, Apple appears to identify the phone in this case as an iPhone 6.

The phone was taken in as evidence in November from Desmond Crawford, who has self-identified as a member of the Columbia Point Dawgs, according to court documents.

Federal investigators obtained Crawford's iPhone, as well as an AT&T flip phone, as part of an investigation into a shooting that wounded a leader of the CPD's rival Greenwood Street gang in Roxbury. According to court documents, Crawford is believed to be the culprit in that shooting. Investigators believe unlocking the phone will provide access to text messages, pictures and other digital history that will help identify co-conspirators and provide evidence of Crawford's involvement in organized crime and drug trafficking.

A bust in summer 2015 led to the indictment of nearly 50 CPD members and affiliates on drug and gun charges. The gang, previously considered to be Boston's largest and most powerful, got its start in the 1980s, when it began operating out of the Columbia Point housing project in Dorchester.

Massachusetts' branch of the American Civil Liberties Union published the unsealed documents Friday in the interest of transparency, according to its website. Although a third party ultimately assisted federal investigators in San Bernardino, the ACLU notes Boston's case is one of many similar ongoing disputes regarding iPhone privacy.