Oh, I understand their wording. I just think it sucks for the layman and should be re-worded on what's supposed to be their plain-english "FAQ" page.

They're distinguishing between "Have we ever unlocked an iPhone" and "Have we ever extracted data from an iPhone". I understand the difference, but the general public (and any given politician) will not. To most people, those phrases either mean the same thing, or they think that unlocking has always been a prerequisite for data extraction.

I just think the paragraph would be helped by an explanation of the difference between those two things, and why in the past it's been possible to extract data without unlocking. And yes, that critical difference is at the heart of the fight. The fact that most people don't understand the difference is part of why it's so controversial.