It’s an incremental but significant legal victory for Apple. This isn’t the same case we’ve been covering with the San Bernardino killers, but a separate one involving drug dealing.  

The ruling essentially said the government was trying to assert an authority it doesn’t have. At the heart of the issue is a larger debate about privacy and security. What the New York judge said is that Apple isn’t conspiring to keep the data on the phone inaccessible, they’re just trying to stay out of these kinds of cases. Apple is hoping this particular ruling has far-reaching effects. And we’re not going to be done with the issue anytime soon.

Both the government and Apple are assuming this legal battle will stretch out over years and are even preparing for the issue to reach the Supreme Court. In fact, today, Apple will be on Capitol Hill arguing that the result of ordering the company to make data accessible the San Bernadino terrorism case, would weaken the security of all of its products.