Feinstein wants tougher action against Apple over San Bernardino iPhone | The Sacramento Bee

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is calling on Congress to take a tougher stand against Apple for its refusal to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, saying a proposal for a commission to study the issue doesn’t go far enough.

“I have been reeling back in surprise because I didn’t think a company would set itself above the law, particularly a California-based company like Apple,” Feinstein said in an interview with McClatchy.

The comments, which put Feinstein at odds with one of her state’s largest companies, come as Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday announced a proposal for a commission on digital security.

They characterized their effort as the best Congress can do in the face of the standoff between Apple Inc. and the FBI.

“There is no legislative knee-jerk response right now that will solve this problem,” McCaul said.

Feinstein, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said a commission is fine but should not stop Congress from passing a bill that she is crafting with Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the intelligence committee.

Feinstein said her bill “says everyone must cooperate if there is a probable-cause court warrant.”

Apple is challenging a federal magistrate judge’s order requiring the company to create an operating system that overrules security features on Farook’s retrieved phone. The company argues that would create a dangerous precedent as the Justice Department and local law enforcement agencies seek access to the contents of hundreds of iPhones around the nation.

Feinstein, who tried to soften her comments by calling Apple a “great company,” said the Silicon Valley giant was making a mistake.

“I still hope they will reconsider,” Feinstein said.

She noted that she also represents the people Farook and his wife killed in the December terror attack.

“I have now had a terrorist attack on my soil, the state of California,” Feinstein said.

California’s congressional delegation is divided on the issue. Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Los Angeles County, sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey telling him to back off the court case against Apple.

“Let’s all take a deep breath and start talking to each other instead of fighting in court,” Lieu wrote in the Tuesday letter.

McCaul and Warner said the government should continue to pursue the court case against Apple while their proposed commission does its work. Their legislation would create a 16-member panel that would include representatives from Silicon Valley, the FBI and national intelligence agencies and would be tasked with broadly addressing the nation’s digital security issues.

The panel would give a preliminary report in about six months and full recommendations in a year.

McCaul said he’s awaiting the details of Feinstein’s bill before passing judgment on her effort to take a harder stand on Apple. But he and Warner suggested there is a danger of Congress taking action that would end up harming the tech industry and not making people safer.

“There’s no simple solution here and that’s why we need the experts,” McCaul said in remarks at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

This isn’t the first time Feinstein has shown that she is uncomfortable with Silicon Valley’s stand on Internet privacy. She introduced legislation in December that would require social media companies to report “knowledge of any terrorist activity,” a proposal that tech companies also charged could lead to privacy violations.

Now she’s targeting Farook’s phone.

Feinstein said a complete investigation of the San Bernardino attack requires access to the phone.

“They don’t know whether this is a lone wolf, they don’t know whether it’s a cell and there are others around, they don’t know if they have been in communication with a targeted terrorist in another country – these are really important things if you view your job as protecting the American people,” Feinstein said.