The precedent you reference doesn't really apply because, as you say, the FBI isn't actually asking for the signing keys. The big difference between what's bei

The precedent you reference doesn't really apply because, as you say, the FBI isn't actually asking for the signing keys. The big difference between what's being asked and the signing keys is that Apple already have the signing keys. There is certainly plenty of precedent for a court to ask Apple to produce something they already have, but less precedent for a court to ask Apple to make something that doesn't exist yet. In the analogy, the FBI doesn't have a warrant to "search the safe". What is protected by the signing keys is the ability to distribute iOS updates, but the court wants the data on the phone, which is protected by a different key Apple don't have. A more correct non-IT analogy is to imagine that the safe has two locks: one pickable, the other unpickable. Apple don't have a matching key for either, but knows how to cut a key for the unpickable one. The FBI has asked Apple to set up a key-cutting facility, definitely only for use on this one occasion, so they can make a key for the unpickable lock.