What happens when that code gets leaked?
Look at how many leaks we see now before a new product launch.
Of course, those are not even close to the same kind of leak.
When has a version of iOS ever leaked from Apple engineers onto the public's devices? And this would be on just devices inside a secure Apple lab where extra special care would be taken.
Once that code is made, there's no telling who could get their hands on it. For people like me who work in information security, you always work under the assumption that eventually someone will break in or get their hands on something they aren't supposed to. That's why the tech community is vehemently opposed to this.
Just to be clear:
The code itself is easy to write, especially for anyone at Apple with access to iOS source code. Turning off the login attempt counter checks is just a matter of returning okay in a few places. Probably some of those who have written jailbreak code could do it as well.
What's far more important is the signing keys. Without those, you cannot install the modified code into the secure enclave. (Although, since the device in question is a 5C, there is no secure enclave, so it's even easier to update the security code.)
But WITH the keys, you can do anything. And Apple keeps both the source code AND the keys now. Why are we not unsafe already?
Note also that there have constantly been holes in iOS that could've allowed outsiders to install key loggers, etc. There is no such thing as perfect security as long as there is a passcode or fingerprint or any way in for the user... and you have to have that

[doublepost=1458163678][/doublepost]
You're asking me to trust a bunch of nameless faceless people who work for government, which exists solely based on force. So how do I opt out of all this collection and spying? I don't do anything wrong, and know I don't. The government should just have to trust me, not the other way around.
I'm not asking you to trust anyone in any government. If Apple keeps the device in-house, no government is involved with the code.
I'm saying that if you don't trust Apple to keep a special version secure in a special lab right now, then we're already in trouble since the ability to create such a version is already in their hands, and has been all along.
So you are saying that NSA saying "yup, we stopped some crimes" would absolutely cause a national security risk? Come on, you are reaching.
On the contrary, history is full of such secrecy surrounding signals intelligence. Heck, it took fifty years before anything came out about Enigma and other huge programs, and they saved many lives and years of war, and should have been public heroes all along. But that's not the way SIGINT works.
American's knowing that NSA did ANYTHING would put their minds at ease. But they said and did nothing. So I can't take your word for it, even if you worked for "intel", which I highly doubt as you wouldn't be parading it around as if it somehow gives you credibility.
It's not just me. There are plenty of intel veterans who know how harsh the world really is, and how much that information collection and analysis helps keeps us all safe and free.
Also, NSA doesn't give two shakes about what people in the US are doing, unless you're a foreigner or you're planning something with a foreign national. Collection of data != surveillance. It's more like having the ability to Google past events.
Maybe we should ask Apple to rewrite software on the watch that when your heart rate goes up, it automatically sends information to the FBI because you are nervous and that MIGHT be because you are about to commit a crime.
Don't make up strawmen. No one has asked for anything like that. They have asked to access information under a legal warrant granted by a judge.
It seems our founding fathers saw this coming and quite frankly, I agree with the quote that if you give up your privacy for security, you deserve neither.
This is not about privacy. It's about serving a legal warrant.
More importantly, according to those who claim the code will leak, it's really about whether or not Apple can be trusted to keep a special version inside their labs.