U.S. Slams Apple’s Cook for Refusing to Help in Terror Probe

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

BY Edvard Pettersson

February 19, 2016 — 2:00 PM EST
Updated on February 19, 2016 — 3:00 PM EST

The U.S. fired back at Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook after he publicly refused to cooperate with a judge’s order to aid law enforcement in unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone.

On Friday, the government again asked the court to compel Apple to obey the judge’s order to help in opening the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who died in a shootout with law enforcement in San Bernardino, California, after a massacre that killed 14 people.

Apple’s resistance is “based on its concern for its business model and public brand marketing strategy,” the government said in a filing in federal court in Riverside, California. Apple “is not above the law.”

Clearly frustrated with Apple’s intransigence, the government submitted its demand a week before Apple’s deadline to respond to the judge’s earlier order. Advancing its case in the courts of both law and public opinion, the Justice Department essentially said the company has placed its profits and popularity ahead of the public’s safety. Prosecutors expanded on their initial request while picking apart Apple’s defense, as explained in a letter Cook published on the company’s website earlier this week.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-19/u-s-files-new-request-to-force-apple-to-help-in-iphone-probe

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Secret Memo Details U.S.’s Broader Strategy to Crack Phones

By Michael Riley, Jordan Robertson
February 19, 2016 — 5:00 AM EST

Silicon Valley celebrated last fall when the White House revealed it would not seek legislation forcing technology makers to install “backdoors” in their software -- secret listening posts where investigators could pierce the veil of secrecy on users’ encrypted data, from text messages to video chats. But while the companies may have thought that was the final word, in fact the government was working on a Plan B.

In a secret meeting convened by the White House around Thanksgiving, senior national security officials ordered agencies across the U.S. government to find ways to counter encryption software and gain access to the most heavily protected user data on the most secure consumer devices, including Apple Inc.’s iPhone, the marquee product of one of America’s most valuable companies, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The approach was formalized in a confidential National Security Council “decision memo,” tasking government agencies with developing encryption workarounds, estimating additional budgets and identifying laws that may need to be changed to counter what FBI Director James Comey calls the “going dark” problem: investigators being unable to access the contents of encrypted data stored on mobile devices or traveling across the Internet. Details of the memo reveal that, in private, the government was honing a sharper edge to its relationship with Silicon Valley alongside more public signs of rapprochement.

On Tuesday, the public got its first glimpse of what those efforts may look like when a federal judge ordered Apple to create a special tool for the FBI to bypass security protections on an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the shooters in the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California that killed 14 people. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has vowed to fight the order, calling it a “chilling” demand that Apple “hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers.” The order was not a direct outcome of the memo but is in line with the broader government strategy.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice have the Obama administration’s “full” support in the matter. The government is “not asking Apple to redesign its product or to create a new backdoor to their products,” but rather are seeking entry “to this one device,” he said.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-19/secret-memo-details-u-s-s-broader-strategy-to-crack-phones

[nichomachus]

1. Apple is blocking an effort to provide a backdoor into everyone's phone -- not just one phone

And we should all be behind Apple on this.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. Yep...

that is why I gave this a rec.

[tinrobot]

2. Apple needs to stand firm

This is not about opening one iPhone for the FBI, it is about giving the FBI tools to open every iPhone.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. “to this one device” and then another device, and then a group's devices...

What is so special about this guy's phone that Apple, and every other organization, has to open it up to snoopers?

There was a time when government snooping was a bad thing, except in special circumstances and by warrant. Now, just mention "terrorism" and anything goes.

[yeoman6987]

5. It's the justice department that is demanding apple to do this.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Yes it is, but a backdoor is a backdoor...

we already have enough email and other snooping, and not by warrant.

[chapdrum]

21. I thought that was the idea.

Mission (almost) Accomplished.

[chapdrum]

4. Apple "is not above the law"

But Dick Cheney and his ilk clearly are, and I'd bet he/they are pulling strings here.

Patriots can never rest.

[Initech]

6. "You took my sonar concept and applied it to every phone in the city! This is wrong!" - Lucious Fox

[DebbieCDC]

8. Absolutely stand with Apple on this

"oh just this one time and we promise never to do it again" said the gov't...never.

Aside from the broader issues at stake here, IMO, there's NOTHING to be found on the San Berdoo terrorist's work cell phone. FFS, both of them jumped through all kinds of hoops to destroy their personal cell phones, computer hard drives, etc. Do you think for one second they would have left that ONE phone untouched? A phone that belonged to his employer? Bulls**t.

[awoke_in_2003]

16. And even if there was, so what?

Like I told someone at work, building back doors into iPhones because a terrorist used on is like saying we need to put tracking devices on all guns because a terrorist used one. That shut him up (temporarily). I fully suspect he will come back with "but owning guns is a right". These types never seem to remember the right to privacy.

[geek tragedy]

18. tracking devices on guns is actually a pretty good idea nt

[awoke_in_2003]

19. Oh, I agree

but those I work with wouldn't agree. It shuts them up, so it makes me happy.

[JoeyT]

20. Why would we stop there?

Literally every crime ever committed involved a person. Why not just stick ankle monitors on everyone and be done with it?

No one would abuse a power like that, and it would definitely crack down on crime. Don't you trust your government, citizen?

[FreedomRain]

9. secret backdoors

provide so much intel, it is useless in real time terror detection. It is vital for investigation of a specific case, certainly, just get a warrant. Haphazard collecting of personal info isn't going to stop a terror attack, but it will leave every individual open to an attack by any official that doesn't like them personally.

[Turbineguy]

10. This issue shows how far we are from dealing effectively with IS.

They don't care about this.

We should be talking about something that concerns them.

OK, the FBI can find out who I called on my phone, but I still get my 72 Virgins, right?

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I am so glad you posted that Bloomberg piece.

[Sherman A1]

12. I'm with Apple on this one.

I see nothing but a slippery slope.

[Kip Humphrey]

13. My recollection of a review of iOS8 encryption was that it compared favorably to quantum encryption

and could not be decrypted using current available technical means. Given Apple's advance press for the OS intro whereby they announced there would be no decryption with this OS moving forward, I honestly don't think Apple can do anything even if they want to.

[randome]

14. The San Bernardino shooters' phone is an earlier version, though.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[24601]

17. This has the potential to have unintended consequences. They got a court order after convincing a

Judge that they had probable cause.

But if Apple doesn't comply, I see where pendulum swings back towards those that said the government needs to get everything because we can't trust that industry will comply, especially when time is important.

Can the government compel Apple to comply? Maybe and maybe not. You can start with a fine of $1 Million a day that doubles every day and you can jail for contempt until the court order is obeyed. Those might be upheld but maybe not.

But what is pretty clear was that in the ACA case, the USSC pretty much removed all boundaries pursuant to the taxing power. You don't need to coerce action when you can impose a $5000 tax on the sale of any device that cannot be unlocked.

But these phones are made in China. What has stopped the Chinese government from making sure they are built just right from their perspective?

[Kablooie]

22. Even over in freerepublic land the general mood is to support Apple.

[dinkytron]

23. My gut feeling tells me this is all BS, that the US Gov. can already get into any cell phone.

Of course this is just speculative.

[GOLGO 13]

24. Agreed.

It's the govt trying to cover up the fact that they can already do it. I think it's gonna backfire on them.