However, if the DEA can still get enough evidence to be able to obtain a search warrant for the person in question, iMessage and iPhone is then DEA's best friend. History of every iMessage the user sent and received is saved locally on all their Apple device, even those from before they ever got a wiretap warrant going. iPhone will also have recorded the users geographical location allowing them to also know where they have been and when they were there.
Is that not just easily fixed by deleting the conversation after you are done? Just trying to follow the train of thought here. If the conversation can only be observed at the end points (devices) and not between them, wouldn't the only record of the conversations's content be on the devices? If so, if the conversation is deleted or select entries (edit>select>delete) on pith phones, doesn't that remove all data? I ask because I find it interesting that this has been around since '11 and I find it odd that's just coming to light now.
Is that not just easily fixed by deleting the conversation after you are done? .... If so, if the conversation is deleted or select entries (edit>select>delete) on pith phones, doesn't that remove all data?
Seems like more than just iMessage has had the DEA stumped, if they resort to wholesale invasion of citizen privacy and wiretapping of everyone on the planet, only have a few weed dealers to show for it.
Question is, will Apple add GPG/PGP/ZRTP encryption to their Mail app in their signature easy-to-use way? For it to be practical it should be ubiquitous. Same question for other communication apps. This is long overdue, IMHO.
Apple should be making functionality like Zfone's standard, it looks like Jitsi is using some of this ZRTP technology already...
Correct. Apple does not hold onto iMessage data and even if it did, it's encrypted. iMessages are encrypted on the device before transmission, with keys stored on the devices, not in the cloud or in any other infrastructure controlled by Apple or the carrier.
Contrary to what was read into Apple's public statements it's been determined that Apple does have access to the contents of iMessages and can share them if required to do so by the US Government. I think this is a case of very carefully-worded Apple statements having a meaning applied to them that Apple themselves did not state even tho it may have been implied.
It's actually very poorly worded by Ars - Apple CAN have access (obviously, they made it) but that doesn't mean it DOES have access. Changes would have to be made for iMessages to have that capability. Can they? Yes DO they? I highly doubt it. They have too much "skin in the game" to make claims like that without backing it up.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by eep357
However, if the DEA can still get enough evidence to be able to obtain a search warrant for the person in question, iMessage and iPhone is then DEA's best friend. History of every iMessage the user sent and received is saved locally on all their Apple device, even those from before they ever got a wiretap warrant going. iPhone will also have recorded the users geographical location allowing them to also know where they have been and when they were there.
Is that not just easily fixed by deleting the conversation after you are done? Just trying to follow the train of thought here. If the conversation can only be observed at the end points (devices) and not between them, wouldn't the only record of the conversations's content be on the devices? If so, if the conversation is deleted or select entries (edit>select>delete) on pith phones, doesn't that remove all data? I ask because I find it interesting that this has been around since '11 and I find it odd that's just coming to light now.
From the Apple Support Communities:
Deleted SMS text messages found in search
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2585708?start=0&tstart=0
Question is, will Apple add GPG/PGP/ZRTP encryption to their Mail app in their signature easy-to-use way? For it to be practical it should be ubiquitous. Same question for other communication apps. This is long overdue, IMHO.
Apple should be making functionality like Zfone's standard, it looks like Jitsi is using some of this ZRTP technology already...
See:
http://zfoneproject.com/prod_zfone.html
and
https://jitsi.org/index.php/Documentation/ZrtpFAQ
Contrary to what was read into Apple's public statements it's been determined that Apple does have access to the contents of iMessages and can share them if required to do so by the US Government. I think this is a case of very carefully-worded Apple statements having a meaning applied to them that Apple themselves did not state even tho it may have been implied.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/contrary-to-public-claims-apple-can-read-your-imessages/
It's actually very poorly worded by Ars - Apple CAN have access (obviously, they made it) but that doesn't mean it DOES have access. Changes would have to be made for iMessages to have that capability. Can they? Yes DO they? I highly doubt it. They have too much "skin in the game" to make claims like that without backing it up.