FBI decides provisionally not to share iPhone unlock: sources

Details are pictured on the backside of an Apple Iphone 6 on a table in a restaurant in Hanau, Germany, April 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

WASHINGTON: The FBI has provisionally decided not to share an iPhone unlocking mechanism used by a contractor to open the phone of one of the San Bernardino shooters because the agency does not own the mechanism, two US government sources said. 

The FBI is expected within days to write to the White House explaining why the agency cannot share the unlocking mechanism with other government agencies, Apple or other third parties, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous.