FBI director says investigators unable to unlock San Bernardino shooter's phone content

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey said on Tuesday that federal investigators have still been unable to access the contents of a cellphone belonging to one of the killers in the Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino, California, due to encryption technology.

Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the phenomenon of communications "going dark" due to more sophisticated technology and wider use of encryption is "overwhelmingly affecting" law enforcement operations, including investigations into murder, car accidents, drug trafficking and the proliferation of child pornography.

"We still have one of those killer's phones that we have not been able to open," Comey said in reference to the San Bernardino attack.

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, launched the Islamic State-inspired attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, at a social services agency in the California city, leaving 14 dead.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-director-says-investigators-unable-unlock-san-bernardino-204543082.html

[retrowire]

1. ....? really? nt

[merrily]

2. Soooo, they can't spy on the only people we actually know they need to spy on? Perfect.

[EdwardBernays]

3. good

not because I want to protect that asshole, but because our government can't be trusted to protect us from them.

Terrorism is such a small threat to this country, and we should NOT be forced into a position where people can have access to our communication without a REAL judge PROPERLY reviewing EVIDENCE and granting a WARRANT.

[passiveporcupine]

12. I agree but in this case

I'm sure they have the warrant, but still can't crack the encryption technology. Seems like the company who developed the encryption technology should be able to help them.

[TipTok]

14. These apps are explicitly built so even the developers can't access the data..

https://www.wickr.com/how-wickr-works/

The idea is that even if the 'good guys' have a back door to access then that can be exploited by the 'bad guys' so they block all access.

Amazing stuff...

[Raster]

4. Oh please. Give the phone to the NSA. They'll have that baby cracked in no time.

This smells a tad bit like old catch-o-the-day to me.

[Yo_Mama]

11. I don't believe it either. Glad to have company. n/t

[metroins]

5. Good.

It shows encryption and personal privacy is winning.

We do not need to weaken personal privacy.

[billhicks76]

6. Don't Believe The Hype

And it has never been about terror and always been about Drugs & Money. So disingenuous.

[valerief]

8. +1

[Depaysement]

18. Forget the drugs

It's all money and power. Always has been.

[billhicks76]

20. A World You Don't See

Drugs are money and power now.

[Depaysement]

21. Ok

We are talking about the same thing I think.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. So, you won't be able to prevent the shooting?

[elehhhhna]

9. so Perfect. You win. Lol.

[24601]

10. Yeah, why would we want to know who their contacts are anyway? I'm sure they were the only

two terrorists in the Western Hemisphere. Most likely, all their contacts are wonderful peace-loving people.

Do I really have to add it? OK

[Ford_Prefect]

13. Not buying this for a second. It is far too easy to unlock a phone, ANY cell phone.

This is one more shot across the bow of personal privacy rights.

Comey is an old school Cold warrior in the "we know whats best for you so don't ask us" style. He has almost said it in those terms.

[TipTok]

15. What is the motivation for that line of thought?

[ManiacJoe]

16. The problem is not a locked phone.

Unlocking the phone is relatively simple.
The problem they have is that they cannot read the data after they get access to the files.

If the encryption is good enough to stall the government, it is good enough to protect us from the Bad Guys.

[Ford_Prefect]

17. I mis-stated the point. Comey and Clapper want to read any data any time,

and have used this kind of argument that they "must" have back door access to all encryption, along with back doors to operating systems, hardware and platforms. Both men have made cold war style remarks about threats they cannot see due to encryption.

The facts are that they aren't looking for the problems before they happen. They only look after the fact. There is indeed a difficult line to draw in helping assemble evidence when the source is encrypted data. But the NSA repeatedly has claimed they can break anything out there so you have to wonder about Comey's remarks. I think he's fishing for something.

A very good friend works at one of the encryption firms and has testified to congress about this area several times. He says regardless of the actual technology and situations Congress and the agencies are demanding back doors to everything without warrants or proprietary guarantees. He says they have claimed they are entitled and that 9/11 changed all the rules, in so many words. Which by the way is their testimony of record.

Neither agency has a good record of STOPPING events so far. Both have been criticized for short sighted policies and programs that don't look at the causes and patterns "on the ground" through old school methods involving live sources formerly called Human Intelligence. It is easier some have said to sit in a room and analyze numbers because when you do that you get piles of data you can wave at the next funding committee.

I agree that data patterns can yield helpful information but that is useless if the underlying assumptions about the trends and the targets have weak definition because the human Intelligence that provides the necessary meaningful context is half done or not done at all. "The blind leading the blind" is a description too often true according to some of the congressmen who have seen what is going on and may not tell us the details.

[marble falls]

19. Did they try a 16 yr old, yet?

[mhatrw]

22. Phones don't kill people. Not letting the Feds listen to every word everyone says on every phone

kills people.

[Oneironaut]

23. Funny government logic:

"If we demand back doors to all legitimate applications that have encryption, terrorists will continue to use those applications despite knowing that such back doors exist." Good luck with that.

[LiberalFighter]

24. Especially when the US can only attempt to require companies in their jurisdiction.