Apple asks court to reverse FBI iPhone order

Apple has asked a US court to overturn an earlier ruling ordering the company to help the FBI break into a phone used by one of the San Bernardino killers.

Apple supporters protested over government efforts to break into an iPhone

In court papers Apple says law enforcement authorities are seeking "dangerous powers" and the move violates its constitutional rights. The FBI and White House have said the request is limited to one iPhone.

But Apple says the software needed to comply with the FBI's request "simply does not exist". Instead Apple says it would have to create a new version on the iPhone operating software, containing a back door to the device's encrypted data.

It argues that the lower court did not have the authority to force Apple to do that. Apple also says no court had ever forced a company to weaken the security of its products to gain access to personal individual information.

"This case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld," the filing said.