I just don't get the government's rationale on weakening encryption so they can get in easier. It's no different than someone using a very thick, impenetrable door for their fortress of their house. It will resist anyone trying to get in, but the government can sure try by using seriously big brute-force equipment to get it. All that happens is the industry will make more hardened doors and wait to see how those are defeated... encryption should be no different.
Totally stupid idea. I'm really ashamed of them. They have zero clue how technology works. Penalizing Apple will do nothing to fix the problem.
My first reaction was, "Let's do it so that everyone freaks out when they find out the consequences of such poor decision". The problem is that most citizens don't understand technology and even if it becomes apparent that such measures actually harm us, I am not sure that there would be sufficient public outrage to force politicians to back off. My only hope is that politicians become the target of hackers and that all their dirty laundry will be exposed to everyone to see. Then maybe they will get it.
It's not that citizens don't understand technology. It's that they don't care about privacy. In the age of social media, people don't care about privacy. People share their personal life all the time on the Web. In this day and age, sadly, people think that only those who have something to hide would care about privacy and therefore, such people are probably doing something they shouldn't be doing.
Look no further than the companies that are the darlings of society. Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt is on record for saying in response to a question about privacy that if someone had something they don't want anyone knowing about, they probably shouldn't be doing it in the first place. The fact that a person with that kind of an attitude about user privacy is still in a position of power at Google speaks volumes about how rotten that organization is. Yet Google is held up as one of the examples of corporations that are truly about "changing the world" or "making the world a better place." Facebook is another example. Facebook can't survive without user information. It has no incentive to maintain adequate safeguards for user privacy. It's happened to me many times where I would search for something in Google search and then hours later, when I log onto Facebook, I see an ad with information pertaining to what I typed into Google search. Facebook and Google shamelessly data-mine users' Internet habits in order to send them targeted advertising.
The problem is not that citizens don't understand technology. It's that they don't understand the importance of privacy. They don't understand how disastrous it is to justify giving up privacy to the government because they "have nothing to hide."
maybe create these backdoors first on phones and devices of policemen and politicians as a test run? if that happens i'm sure they'll back off and reconsider. they have more secrets and "activities" i'm sure.
"A bill up for consideration by the New York state assembly would force Apple and other smartphone makers to ensure their products can be decrypted for the sake of law enforcement."
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
-- Benjamin Franklin
If state, fed, foreign governments all want a back door, Apple might as well close its door because no one, especially those abroad, will want to buy their phones.
assuming that Apple goes along with it. It's possible that if New York passes this law, Apple will just stop selling iPhones in the State. At their stores, at the carriers, no online shipping to addresses in the state. Folks will run across the border to get them which the law can't really stop
Assemblyman Matthew Titone is a Democrat, folks. Parties don't matter. Everyone in power wants to violate your rights to amass more power for themselves.
It is strange. Italian, probably southern or Sicilian, representing Staten Island, southern Italian partner, openly gay — a very unlikely snoop supporter. I wonder if there's something or someone pressuring him to take this very uncool stance.
Lindsay Graham is 99% likely gay and he's one of the biggest war hawks in government. Probably bullied as a kid and that poisoned his worldview. Look at Tim Cook. He's not a fascist.
It would never work users will fight back and win! They will use open source encryption technologies to encrypt their phones and their communications. Smart ones at least, even if they have to jailbreak their phones!
The most iPhones in the US are sold in the store in Delaware at Christiana Mall. Busloads of New Yorkers travel there to buy their iPhones without paying tax. This will no doubt continue, but with the NY law, more buses will have to be added for the double bonus.
FK New York. This is a federally regulated device, not state regulated. They can make no such demand. And FK the moron legislator, Titone. What a pea brain!
I'm guessing that if this backward bill somehow passes, the version of iOS where it is rolled out will see very little adoption by those of us who value our privacy and are savvy enough to know we should not update to weakware.
It's never going to pass. It will probably never make it out of committee. There's tons of idiot bills that never see the floor. This is just political posturing. If it ever gets to the floor, all Apple has to do is to let the Assembly know that if they pass the bill, they'll close every Apple office and every Apple store in NY State. They'll cave in about three seconds and even if they didn't, Governor Cuomo would probably veto the bill anyway. Even if Titone seriously thinks this is a good idea, this legislation should be Federal, not State. What would stop a criminal or terrorist from buying a phone in another State? Completely absurd.
The details matter. All iPhones may be in current compliance with this proposed law, since all can be decrypted right now. All you need is the user's passcode, and it is open. So, Apple simply requires all users to accept in their ToS that they agree to supply their passcode to the state of New York. They might even put a place for it on the Apple website, and you agree to keep it updated. Done.
Sorry, you're protected by the fifth amendment so you can't be required to incriminate yourself. Apple can't require that and even if they were forced to, criminals aren't going to adhere to it anyway. Again, politicians refuse to accept the fact that criminals aren't going to abide by any law so why have a law that requires them too? This whole encryption back door garbage is taking up way too much time. There are plenty of other things every government should be doing. They already can sniff cellular and land line calls, determine where every single cellular device is currently located so why have a back door? Utter stupidity on the part of politicians and all those sheep who think taking away a society's freedom from oppression is the cost of "freedom." Time to get rid of all those armed forces commercials that brainwash everyone into believing they're protecting the US. They're protecting the interests of US companies, that's what our taxes are going to.
Your points are valid, but you are incorrect about the applicability of the 5th amendment.
There does seem to be a fairly strong movement in the US to track people's private communications. Sad but realistically Apple has to have a way of dealing with this given it depends a lot on domestic sales. Is it possible that the governments will force tech companies to provide a back door under certain conditions?
Apple prices wordwide seem to be based relative to the US currency which is very high will only make it difficult to sell US products overseas. The whole encryption issue will only make matters worse. At what point does the increase in the currency really start a movement away from Apple? To some degree this was the problem with the Mac. People in other countries could rely on locally priced and sourced computers to install Windows. While there may be a growing middle class around the world the US currency strength is eventually going to prevent even those people from considering Apple. Odd situation with many currencies diving with respect to the US currency despite the rather high 20 trillion debt that the country has. I thought if you printed money ( i.e. flooded the country with paper money) the currency would drop?
In any case, high currency + encryption woes would seem to be worrisome.
If NY passes such an idiotic law, Apple should just stop selling iDevices in NY and see just how fast the law is retracted. If it isn't, then the people of NY will get to experience the repercussions of leadership they voted for.
Actual criminals use burner phones, anyway. You know, dumbphones with prepaid SIM cards that they just chuck into the river when they’re done with a given crime?
Even if they won’t admit it to themselves (or they’re paid not to), everyone knows that government control over communication has nothing to do with criminal activity. Only citizens’.
There does seem to be a fairly strong movement in the US to track people's private communications. Sad but realistically Apple has to have a way of dealing with this…
Comments
Look no further than the companies that are the darlings of society. Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt is on record for saying in response to a question about privacy that if someone had something they don't want anyone knowing about, they probably shouldn't be doing it in the first place. The fact that a person with that kind of an attitude about user privacy is still in a position of power at Google speaks volumes about how rotten that organization is. Yet Google is held up as one of the examples of corporations that are truly about "changing the world" or "making the world a better place." Facebook is another example. Facebook can't survive without user information. It has no incentive to maintain adequate safeguards for user privacy. It's happened to me many times where I would search for something in Google search and then hours later, when I log onto Facebook, I see an ad with information pertaining to what I typed into Google search. Facebook and Google shamelessly data-mine users' Internet habits in order to send them targeted advertising.
The problem is not that citizens don't understand technology. It's that they don't understand the importance of privacy. They don't understand how disastrous it is to justify giving up privacy to the government because they "have nothing to hide."
assuming that Apple goes along with it. It's possible that if New York passes this law, Apple will just stop selling iPhones in the State. At their stores, at the carriers, no online shipping to addresses in the state. Folks will run across the border to get them which the law can't really stop
Back doors that can be exploited by people other than government agencies...
Who gets the blame when "terrorists" utilize the back doors to compromise government data?
Apple prices wordwide seem to be based relative to the US currency which is very high will only make it difficult to sell US products overseas. The whole encryption issue will only make matters worse. At what point does the increase in the currency really start a movement away from Apple? To some degree this was the problem with the Mac. People in other countries could rely on locally priced and sourced computers to install Windows. While there may be a growing middle class around the world the US currency strength is eventually going to prevent even those people from considering Apple. Odd situation with many currencies diving with respect to the US currency despite the rather high 20 trillion debt that the country has. I thought if you printed money ( i.e. flooded the country with paper money) the currency would drop?
In any case, high currency + encryption woes would seem to be worrisome.
Even if they won’t admit it to themselves (or they’re paid not to), everyone knows that government control over communication has nothing to do with criminal activity. Only citizens’.