White House says FBI wants access to one iPhone, not blanket backdoor from Apple
The White House has taken issue with Apple's suggestion that creating a backdoor to iOS would threaten the security of all its customers, instead arguing that the issue applies to just one iPhone in question.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, spokesman Josh Earnest said the government does not want Apple to "create a new backdoor to its products," according to Reuters. Instead, he suggested the issue is related to just one case: The December terrorist shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that resulted in 16 deaths and 24 injuries.
"(President Barack Obama) certainly believes that this is an important national priority," Earnest told reporters at the White House.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook himself predicted this argument in his open letter to the public on Wednesday, saying that the government "may argue that its use would be limited to this case." But in Cook's view, "there is no way to guarantee such control."
From Apple's perspective, creating a tool to access a single iPhone could open the flood gates for future issues rippling well beyond the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.
"In the wrong hands, this software -- which does not exist today --?would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession," Cook said.
The controversy began Tuesday, when a U.S. magistrate judge ordered Apple to comply with FBI requests to help extract data from an iPhone owned by one of the shooters involved in the terrorist attack. The device in question is an iPhone 5c that was password protected by the gunman, and is set to erase a stored decryption key after ten unsuccessful login attempts.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, spokesman Josh Earnest said the government does not want Apple to "create a new backdoor to its products," according to Reuters. Instead, he suggested the issue is related to just one case: The December terrorist shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that resulted in 16 deaths and 24 injuries.
The White House believes this is about one case, but Apple believes creating a backdoor could set a dangerous precedent.
"(President Barack Obama) certainly believes that this is an important national priority," Earnest told reporters at the White House.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook himself predicted this argument in his open letter to the public on Wednesday, saying that the government "may argue that its use would be limited to this case." But in Cook's view, "there is no way to guarantee such control."
From Apple's perspective, creating a tool to access a single iPhone could open the flood gates for future issues rippling well beyond the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting.
"In the wrong hands, this software -- which does not exist today --?would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession," Cook said.
The controversy began Tuesday, when a U.S. magistrate judge ordered Apple to comply with FBI requests to help extract data from an iPhone owned by one of the shooters involved in the terrorist attack. The device in question is an iPhone 5c that was password protected by the gunman, and is set to erase a stored decryption key after ten unsuccessful login attempts.
Comments
But if it has the touch entry, hasn't the FBI tried the touch of that dead terrorist's fingers.
I recall when a well know top end car had a touch function to start it,
thieves who took over a few of those cars from the owners,
cut off a few fingers so they could leave the owner at the roadside.
I bet the FBI didn't even think of using the finger. I bet they are still using flip phones.
But it's OK to ask Apple to put a whole lot of resource into solving this one single phone problem. I'm sure it would only be this one iPhone. No other ones. Honest. Would we lie to you ? After the US DoJ went after Apple so evenhandedly over the old iBooks thing and all I'm sure Apple are only too keen to help.
And just for the sake of conversation, even if they were using a newer iPhone with Touch ID, apparently, dead fingers will not work, according to a link posted by somebody yesterday, lostkiwi I believe posted it.
Such a software does NOT exist today and can you, the gov't, force us Apple to write it? That is the point...
It is NOT just one phone. It is THE FIRST phone. The critical one that sets the precedent and can never be undone. Its everything.
1) iForgot.apple.com: Is there a way to access the phone via Apple ID?
2) ...assuming you can't... If the FBI bring the phone to Apple "Labs"... Can Apple disable the erase feature to allow a brute force attack? I don't know if it is even possible. If it were, then Apple could charge to disable that feature... the Gov't brings computers to Apple and/or uses Apple hardware to do the brute force attack.
Am I completely off base?
This whole things smells a bit fishy - as in why is Apple getting crap about this, when what this should be described as is the FBI wanting Apple to hack into this iPhone (by any means possible) to retrieve data. Either the FBI knows Apple can do it, and they're using this as a wedge to force compliance to something Apple has made it clear they don't support (using the courts and the court of public opinion), or Apple knows they can't hack the phone without creating something that may very well jeopardize the security of all iPhones going forward.
Frankly, I think the time and money being spent on this, is way overblown for the severity of the situation. Yes, it's terrible that innocent people lost their lives, but hundreds of innocent people lose their lives every day and we're not trying to roast a company who has made it a point to tell us they are protecting our data. This fear of terrorism takes away valuable time, money and resources that could actually do good, in the hopes of stopping something that may or may not happen. And given the numbers, terrorism in the US certainly is not even a fraction of what causes most of the senseless deaths each year.
Of course, this would never happen.
"I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine."
What if the FBI hacked their email and iCloud accounts... perhaps Apple can tell them how to hack into their Notes/Messages, etc accounts. Isn't that info in the "cloud" on a server somewhere? Or perhaps this was a long planned, pre-meditated act where there is no cloud data available.