Is it a "mere" repair when they crack open your device swap out the main board and replace the firmware? Imagine that their "search" turned up nothing? You'd still be left unable to get your device back intact or unaltered. Should the government be able to swap out hardware components and install whatever firmware they like on them without a court order? People have their own reasons for selecting the hardware that they do and for not installing certain firmware. Should the police be able to install firmware that isn't official?
"merely repairing" seems misleading given what this allows for.
To my understanding this was a routine repair operation. Yes, if forensic firmware had been installed or something like that, that's be different, but that's not what happened and doesn't appear to be part of the ruling.
I guess an equivalent scenario, and I don't know how this would land in court, would be picking the front door of a house, but not entering. It facilitates the search, bit isn't one? Wherever that falls under the law, this should probably be consistent with it.
> To my understanding this was a routine repair operation.
Even if that's the case, I think that the repair shouldn't have been performed by a detective (a government official whose stereotypical role is searching, not fixing) in a forensic lab.
"merely repairing" seems misleading given what this allows for.