Submission + - Locked iPhone Blocks Italian Murder Probe (itworld.com) 2
itwbennett writes: The access code locking the iPhone 5 of an Italian murder victim is depriving police of information that might help them solve the crime, but Apple has so far resisted requests for help in unlocking the device, a Milan prosecutor confirmed Friday. 'We have been having difficulty in gaining access to the information held on the device,' Mauro Clerici, the prosecutor overseeing the investigation, said in a telephone interview. 'There's a problem of compatibility between our legal systems. In Italy investigative searches are ordered by the prosecutor, while in the United States they have to be ordered by a judge.' Clerici said the Italian authorities might be able to get around the obstacle by asking an Italian preliminary inquiries judge to appoint a technical expert with a mandate to access the information on the iPhone, but that process can only be undertaken when a suspect has been identified and the Milan investigation is currently against 'persons unknown.'