U.S. to continue appeal of iPhone data case in N.Y.

The U.S. Justice Department on Fridaysaid it will move ahead with an appeal of a court rulingblocking the government from forcing Apple Inc to helpunlock an iPhone in a drug case in New York.

In a letter filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York,the Justice Department said "the government continues to requireApple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorizedto search by warrant."

The letter came a day after Federal Bureau of InvestigationDirector James Comey said the agency's secret method for
unlocking an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardinoshooters will not work on other models.

Those models include the iPhone 5s, the type of phone atissue in the case pending in Brooklyn. Apple has said it has thecapability to access that phone but has fought against a U.S.bid for its help doing so.

The Justice Department said in March it had unlocked the SanBernardino shooter's iPhone with the help of an unidentifiedthird party and dropped that case against Apple Inc.

Left unanswered was whether the Justice Department wouldcontinue to appeal a Feb. 29 ruling by U.S. Magistrate JudgeJames Orenstein finding he did not have authority to order Appleto disable the security of an iPhone seized in a drug probe.

But in its letter on Friday, the Justice Department said itsapplication "is not moot." A law enforcement official told
reporters that iPhones like the one in the Brooklyn case cannotbe accessed with the San Bernardino technique.

The phone in the Brooklyn case belonged to Jun Feng, who hassince pleaded guilty to participation in a methamphetaminedistribution conspiracy. The Justice Department sought to unlockFeng's phone to find other conspirators.

Unlike the phone used by Rizwan Farook in San Bernardino,Feng's phone had an older operating system, iOS 7, which is notprotected under the same encryption technology.

Apple is scheduled to file papers in opposition of theJustice Department's appeal by April 15.