Am I the only one concerned that an iCloud backup translating into information disclosure is a major security weakness in Apple's platform?

Also, since Apple remembers old iCloud passwords to prevent reuse for a year, what stops them from setting it to the original value in their database? Even if there were information lost in their database when the password changed, surely they have backups, right?

backups I can see being a problem. Though just because you can prevent people from using duplicate passwords doesn't mean you can reset it to that password. Just use a hash.

I don't think they can do that

This is like the icing in the cake! If it turns out the FBI's incompetence to secure the apartment prevented them from reconnecting the iPhone to the wifi in order to get a fresh backup off of it.

Isn't securing the scene the job of the local police? How far away was the nearest FBI office?

11.3 mi via I-215 N

So plug it back in...?

Seems like that part is just bad reporting. I presume they mean the Comcast (or whatever provider it is) account is no longer active, not that a router has been simply unplugged (annoyingly, the average user/journalist doesn't understand the relationship between a copper connection, modem, and router/WiFi and that hasn't been helped by Comcast bundling them as a single device).

It would still be relatively trivial to restore the connection so it's not a valid reason for requiring the backdoor, but I think that was the writer's intent.

Also, even if they didn't restore the broadband at the guy's apartment, couldn't they just take the router and plug it in back at the station, since the login credentials have already been established?

Even the mention of the reporters swarming the apartment highlights the absurdity of the FBI's logic. How can they justify needing to scour every last digital crevice when they couldn't even be bothered to secure and scour the physical space they had access to?

But if it is just the access point they need, go get it and connect it to a network connection that is working.

That's exactly what I said in the comment that you replied to:

"Also, even if they didn't restore the broadband at the guy's apartment, couldn't they just take the router and plug it in back at the station, since the login credentials have already been established?"

However, the sibling comment below my original asserts that iOS won't re-connect to WiFi after booting until the pin has been entered (and thus no backup will occur). If that's true, and if the phone had been powered down at any point, then retrieving the router isn't a viable solution anyway.

Actually, iOS devices do not automatically connect to wifi until they are unlocked for the first time after a reboot - I'm not sure about the cellular networks.

They do connect to cellular networks, but will not do an automatic iCloud Backup unless they are a) on wifi and b) connected to power, so this method would not have worked.