The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and United States Department of Justice (DOJ) have made a strong case to force Apple to hack the iPhone 5c used by a terrorist who participated in the San Bernardino shooting last December. Although the FBI claims it requires an encryption backdoor for just one phone there are 12 similar active cases that involve iPhones and iPads running iOS versions 6 to 9.

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Apple has released a list of other active cases involving password-protected units to acquiesce with a federal judge's order.

That list was unsealed on February 23, Tuesday. The only major difference is the 12 other cases were filed in private unlike the San Bernardino case, according to Tech Crunch.  

Apple originally requested the FBI to file its request about the San Bernardino case in private. However, it seems the FBI wanted to make it a public debate and get the upper hand.

The smartphone devices in the cases ranged from iPhone 4s to 6 series. One iPad 2 was also included in the list.

During the past week the federal government stated in its motion that the FBI has only requested Apple to create a backdoor for Syed Farook's iPhone to learn the passcode.  This is technically true.

However, the FBI has claimed several times that the issue is just one mobile device. That included a White House briefing that argued the situation was about one iPhone.  

The tech giant has opposed all of the Writs Act orders from the DOJ to see if it the latter would make other legal arguments. Due to the current battle between Apple and the FBI the cases are not moving forward.

Both the FBI and DOJ have been trying to spin the story to give them an edge. They have tried to do that by focusing on the terrorist attack by the California shooters.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told ABC that the tech giant learned about the FBI's request to hack the iPhone 5c through media outlets. He does not think it is how "the railroad" should be run due to how important the issue is.

However, a source involved in the investigation argued that Cook's claim was not true, according to BBC. The person claimed that Apple's legal team was the first group to learn about the feds' request.  

Here are pro-Apple protestors opposing the FBI's request: