Facebook, Twitter voice support for Apple's stance on encryption [u]

AppleInsider

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted "we stand with Tim Cook and Apple," while Facebook expressed it would "fight aggressively" against any government actions to "weaken the security" of consumer products.

Source: Jack Dorsey via Twitter

According to a followup report by Jessica Guynn for USA Today, Facebook similarly characterized a federal judge's order as a setting a "chilling precedent."

It cited the social network as stating, "We condemn terrorism and have total solidarity with victims of terror. Those who seek to praise, promote, or plan terrorist acts have no place on our services.

"We also appreciate the difficult and essential work of law enforcement to keep people safe. When we receive lawful requests from these authorities we comply.

"However, we will continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems. These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies' efforts to secure their products."

Facebook's comment closely aligns with the statement Apple's chief executive Tim Cook posted yesterday, where Cook said Apple had worked with the FBI but exercised its legal right to challenge the court order demanding that Apple create new software to defeat the existing security systems of iOS.

Despite this, Guynn's report characterized Apple's ongoing cooperation as a "refusal to help the FBI break into?the?iPhone," a tone used by a number of other simplified news accounts.

Guynn also reiterated that other tech companies have taken a muted stance in support of Apple's stand, while noting that Microsoft and Yahoo declined to make specific comments on the issue.

A second USA Today article Brett Molina and Elizabeth Weise, prominently linked to within Guynn's, noted that if the assailants "had carried a phone running on the Android or Windows operating system, the FBI may not have needed to ask anyone for help getting in -- they could have done it on their own."

It noted that "only Apple builds the ability to have the phone erased after a certain number of failed passcode attempts into its operating system."

Christopher Budd, the global threat communications manager for Trend Micro, was cited as saying "Apple is certainly ahead of the pack in terms of encryption capabilities."

The article also cited Filip Chytr?, director of threat intelligence for Avast Software, as noting that setting up similar failed passcode limits on Google's Android requires admin permissions, a special app and extra steps that amount to a task that no "general user would have been able to do."

Windows phones would similarly require special software downloads, Chytr? said.

Neither Google nor Microsoft responded to the site's requests for more information.

Update: In a related development, Apple has been given an extension to file its court response, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The magistrate judge overseeing the case initially set Apple's filing deadline for next Tuesday, but that date has been pushed back to Feb. 26.

MickeyM

Great news! Now the security will strength up enough.

Corgiking

Guess no one need to ask for a backdoor in Windows 

SpamSandwich

Apple and Facebook are two of the biggest companies on the planet. The FBI cannot be allowed to be a rogue organization. I think they need to have more responsible leadership and a more lawful directive that respects our Constitution (and it's a big question why they should even be allowed to harass and threaten any person or business to cooperate). Laws that no one take seriously or follow are bad laws and need to be opposed.

9secondkox2

When you don't have evidence, you look elsewhere. 

You our don't force the people who built a house with locks and sound proofing to install hidden cameras and lock defeating mechanisms. 

The he whole thing is ridiculous. 

America is now a country where its citizens no longer have privacy and personal security?

When that happens, it's no longer the land of the free. 

lowededwookie

Corgiking said:

Guess no one need to ask for a backdoor in Windows 

Windows NT used to have a file that talked directly to the NSA built into the OS. The file could not be deleted but you could just fill it with spaces so that your file was exactly the same size and the OS would carry on running but the NSA could get nothing from your machine. OS level NSA spying with Microsoft products. It's no wonder they're tight lipped about the matter

artdent

Great that other tech companies are stepping up to defend Apple's position - rightfully so - but where are the other organizations that have as much to lose if the government gets its way? I'm talking to you, banks. And you, health providers. And you, universities. Speak up. 

matrix077

Now we all can see how limp Google response was.

seneca72

There's an interesting statement by Congressman Ted Lieu pointing out that to comply with this would effectively make Apple a branch of law enforcement.  Once that happens, could FaceBook or Google be compelled to create profiles of people who may be subversives, terrorists or simply inconvenient to the Government of the day?   

https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lieu-statement-apple-court-order

»Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement regarding the APPLE court order. Congressman Lieu is one of only four computer science majors in Congress.  Congressman Lieu is also the author of the ENCRYPT ACT of 2016.

“The terrorist attack in San Bernardino was horrific and the tragic loss of innocent lives demands a strong response.  I have several deep concerns, however, about the unprecedented court order that forces Apple to create software it does not have in order to provide a “back door” way to weaken its smartphone encryption system.

This FBI court order, by compelling a private sector company to write new software, is essentially making that company an arm of law-enforcement.   Private sector companies are not—and should not be—an arm of government or law enforcement.

This court order also begs the question: Where does this kind of coercion stop?  Can the government force Facebook to create software that provides analytic data on who is likely to be a criminal?  Can the government force Google to provide the names of all people who searched for the term ISIL?  Can the government force Amazon to write software that identifies who might be suspicious based on the books they ordered?”

mackymoto

The media keeps using the term encryption. Am I wrong, or isn't the gov't looking for Apple to get them past the log-in security feature? That is not encryption, that is access security.

studiomusic

mackymoto said:

The media keeps using the term encryption. Am I wrong, or isn't the gov't looking for Apple to get them past the log-in security feature? That is not encryption, that is access security.

That's because they need to log in to get past the encryption.
They don't want Apple to break the encryption, they want to not have to break it.
But the media doesn't much know what it's talking about most of the time.

SpamSandwich

mackymoto said:

The media keeps using the term encryption. Am I wrong, or isn't the gov't looking for Apple to get them past the log-in security feature? That is not encryption, that is access security.

They want Apple to unwillingly engage in assisting the FBI to damage their private property in order to open a phone that may very well yield nothing of value. But beyond the "value" of the information contained therein, FORCING Apple to violate their own trade secrets, FORCING them to have their programmers damage or provide workarounds for their world-class security is tantamount to FORCING a person to self-incriminate. Self-incrimination cannot be forced on any American, or American business as far as I know (since corporate personhood is probably a factor here).

I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that someone in government wants Tim arrested for resisting a court order and they want to be able to access at will any and every iPhone and iOS device in existence.

Incidentally, where the hell is Al Gore in all this? Is he doing anything behind the scenes?

securtis

Of course Jack would applaud this, ISIS loves to use twitter as a springboard

manfred zorn

studiomusic said:

mackymoto said:

The media keeps using the term encryption. Am I wrong, or isn't the gov't looking for Apple to get them past the log-in security feature? That is not encryption, that is access security.

That's because they need to log in to get past the encryption.
They don't want Apple to break the encryption, they want to not have to break it.
But the media doesn't much know what it's talking about most of the time.

Neither Apple nor the FBI can get around the encryption. At issue here are the "Erase storage after 10 failed attempts", the time delay between password tries, and direct entry of passwords via connection rather than finger. Once that is done, brute force password crackers running on government supercomputers can find the right password in either hours or years depending on the level of complexity used to create the password.