A few thoughts here:
1. Donald Trump was right. In the debate he said the President could have called in Apple and worked this out.
2. That fits in with this point - both the FBI and Apple made a mistake making this a public spectacle. The FBI should have done this outside of Federal Court - perhaps in the FISA court or in some other way. They should not have brought action in a way that the press could learn of this. Similarly Apple should not have made this into the big deal it is.
If this could have been done as a one time arrangement without anyone knowing of it, all of Apple's concerns about this code leaking out and the privacy of others being at risk would be substantially mitigated.
3. Apple's legal position is not that strong. The owner of the phone has consented to it being unlocked. The Federal Government went to court and got a warrant based on a reasonable suspicion that the phone contains information on others who assisted in a mass murder.
Apple's opposition is on the theoretical grounds that this code could be used in some future date to maybe do a bad thing.
4. Apple's concern that someone could steal the code from them and then it gets into the wild is not a valid concern. Once Apple announced that unlocking the phone could be done it doesn't matter whether they do it or not. They have basically created an unofficial competition among hackers who now know this can be done and the race will be on to see who is the first to do it.
The Judge should order Apple to develop the code. Have them unlock the phone and then permit Apple to destroy the code or do whatever they want but not allow the FBI to have the unlock.
Also, the rule should be that the FBI can only get phones unlocked with a Court Order. That needs to be put in place by the President and the Attorney General.
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