Apple: Offered help to search Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 within an hour of disappearance

As a part of the ongoing San Bernardino iPhone encryption debate with the FBI, Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell reportedly told the members of the House Judiciary Committee that the company had offered technical assistance to investigators to help search for the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that went missing in 2014. According to a report by 9to5Mac, Louisiana representative Cedric Richmond used the example of a phone that had the location of a nuclear bomb on it. “If there is terrorist, and he’s put the location of a nuclear bomb on his phone, and he dies, how long would it take Apple to develop the technology to find out where the bomb is? Or would Apple not be able to develop the technology to tell us in a short period of time?,” he asked.

In line with details regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Sewell stated that Apple started working with officials without an hour to help find the missing plane. He said, “When the Malaysia airline went down, within one hour of that plane being declared missing, we had Apple operators corroborating with telephone providers all over the world, with the airlines, and with the FBI to try to find a ping. To try to find some way to locate that plane.” This information is rather surprising as now many were aware of Apple’s involvement in searching for the missing flight. At the moment, Apple is entangled with the FBI in a controversial debate which requires them to crack the security on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.