As a result of Apple's refusal to help the FBI unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone, the Maricopa County, Ariz. Attorney's Office has announced that it will not allow workers to choose Apple's handsets as upgrades or replacements.
"Apple's refusal to cooperate with a legitimate law enforcement investigation to unlock a phone used by terrorists puts Apple on the side of terrorists instead of on the side of public safety," said County Attorney Bill Montgomery in a prepared statement. "Positioning their refusal to cooperate as having anything to do with privacy interests is a corporate PR stunt and ignores the 4th Amendment protections afforded by our Constitution."
Montgomery added that prosecutors have regularly secured warrants to unlock encrypted smartphones, "including iPhones sold prior to the release of the iPhone 7." It's not immediately clear why the office chose to refer to an as yet-unannounced handset.
Evidence obtained this way has allegedly proven "critical" in cases involving murder, drug trafficking, and other crimes. He suggested that Apple is concerned about "the potential for unauthorized access to an encryption key," and that if so, the problem should be dealt with in that context.
In a TV interview aired Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that in the future, the company could theoretically be compelled to create tools for surveillance if orders under the All Writs Act stand.
The Maricopa County iPhone ban may have relatively little impact, since the Attorney's Office says that it has 564 smartphones in all, of which 366 are iPhones. Montgomery concluded by saying that he can't do business with a company that interferes with an investigation into a terrorist attack.
"If Apple wants to be the official smartphone of terrorists and criminals, there will be a consequence," he said.
Perhaps Mr. Cook is getting a kickback from terrorists. Based on their refusal to help law enforcement with cracking this one particular phone, I will never buy another Apple product again.
Right up there with Hilary's semail erver was in a bathroom. <LOL> Or a billion thrown at a we bite that still doesn't work (Onamacare web site). At least the government is consistent in making bad choices. Wait till they hack this dudes phone and expose some dark secret because of course we keep ALL our personal stuff on our business phones never our private phones right? I mean the San Bernadono terrorists smashed their personal phones and iPads to tiny pieces then left the phone with all the good stuff just laying on the kitchen table for the apartment manager to find because all the good stuff was on it. Right.
This just reinforces the awareness that the government is the terrorist and cannot be trusted with anything. (we trusted them with social security) Bureaucrats + politicians is kind of like trusting rodents + cockroaches with your food supply
Once everyone realize the police and the government have never stop bad things from happen, they only here to clean up the mess they caused in the first place then people will realize this is more about the government ability to drag your ass into court when they feel like it. The show Law and Order has been on TV for 20 yrs now and you think most everyone would have seen it at least few times and at the begin of the show is say the police role is to investigate and the DA to prosecute crimes. Has anyone ever seen the police motto say stop and prevent crime.
The government does not like the fact they can not force people to incriminate themselves and now they do not like the fact they can not pry into every aspect of your life. The government may come after you for one crime and after they dig through your life they find you did many bad things in your life and then use this to get you to plead to as many things as they can to ensure a conviction.
Maricopa's attorney has prejudged the case. He has decided that Apple is wrong before letting the courts deal with it. Since he knows better than to do that (professionally), evidently he has an emotional stake in the issue.
Groan. What a buffoon. He wants the 'terrorists' (I suppose that includes every iPhone customer, potentially) to have encryption, but not his own employees.
With law enforcement morons like this running around in our country, who needs the bad guys!?
I'm glad they included "iPhones sold prior to the release of the iPhone 7". Whew!
He seems to be saying this to indicate that Apple has cracked the encryption on an iPhone 6S running iOS 9.2.1.
This seems to be contrary to everything Apple has been saying about the latest iPhones. On the other hand, this bozo may not understand the difference between decrypting an actual phone, and looking at unencrypted iCloud data.
Can we conclude from this then that he knows Android based smartphones to be relatively trivial to crack open without the need for Google to be involved? Or has Google provided them with cracking tools already? If you're an Android user, do you find that comforting?
Perhaps Mr. Cook is getting a kickback from terrorists. Based on their refusal to help law enforcement with cracking this one particular phone, I will never buy another Apple product again.
Good. And use the money to get yourself a good education as ignorance is a horrible affliction.
Perhaps Mr. Cook is getting a kickback from terrorists. Based on their refusal to help law enforcement with cracking this one particular phone, I will never buy another Apple product again.
Apple would probably be better off in the long run without customers like you.
I think that people who have no regard for their (and family's) privacy -- including their finance, credit cards, health/medical data, family conversations, conversations with friends/lovers/partners, conversations with their priest and lawyers, etc. -- can and should choose Android.
I can't believe this guy has the audacity to call this a PR stunt. Seriously? How convenient he leaves out the fact the FBI dropped the ball by telling the county to reset the iCloud password. Saying "Apple's refusal to cooperate" is factually incorrect. Apple has given the FBI everything off the phone they have access too. I don't understand how these people such as Bill Montgomery think its ok to force a corporation to create something that doesn't exist.
This is the exactly what we tried to tell you! Now the "government " is classifying people with iPhones as terrorists sympathizers. You are now on a list of aiding terrorists.
I'm VERY familiar with this county and let me tell you they are VERY cruel to their people. Search "maricopa injustice" it's horrifying.
A close friend of mine was blamed for a crime and was proving himself innocent in court after being raided by a clueless FBI team. The county decided to put his face all over the news as a dangerous man BEFORE he was even tried. When he was proven innocent the FBI and Joe Arpaio had a meeting and said they "had to" charge him of a crime because it would make them look bad after showing him to be a monster on TV. They agreed that if the public saw that they "made a mistake" it would hurt their reputation. Now my friend was charged with lifetime probation and has had half his rights taken away for LIFE from simple things like going to the movies to using a computer.
Evidence of his innocense was meaningless to Maricopa County.
So what did law enforcement do before smart phones? Oh, that's right, they did their fk'n jobs with the resources they have. But unfortunately, suppressives are taking over the country, and the dumbing down of the general public continues.
Comments
That being said... I wonder what new upgrades I will get on the iPhone 7 when I buy it in September?
Once everyone realize the police and the government have never stop bad things from happen, they only here to clean up the mess they caused in the first place then people will realize this is more about the government ability to drag your ass into court when they feel like it. The show Law and Order has been on TV for 20 yrs now and you think most everyone would have seen it at least few times and at the begin of the show is say the police role is to investigate and the DA to prosecute crimes. Has anyone ever seen the police motto say stop and prevent crime.
The government does not like the fact they can not force people to incriminate themselves and now they do not like the fact they can not pry into every aspect of your life. The government may come after you for one crime and after they dig through your life they find you did many bad things in your life and then use this to get you to plead to as many things as they can to ensure a conviction.
With law enforcement morons like this running around in our country, who needs the bad guys!?
This seems to be contrary to everything Apple has been saying about the latest iPhones. On the other hand, this bozo may not understand the difference between decrypting an actual phone, and looking at unencrypted iCloud data.
We'll see, when/if it goes to trial, who comes with an amicus curiae and what it says.
I think that people who have no regard for their (and family's) privacy -- including their finance, credit cards, health/medical data, family conversations, conversations with friends/lovers/partners, conversations with their priest and lawyers, etc. -- can and should choose Android.
Vive la difference!
Please people take a stand!!!!
A close friend of mine was blamed for a crime and was proving himself innocent in court after being raided by a clueless FBI team. The county decided to put his face all over the news as a dangerous man BEFORE he was even tried. When he was proven innocent the FBI and Joe Arpaio had a meeting and said they "had to" charge him of a crime because it would make them look bad after showing him to be a monster on TV. They agreed that if the public saw that they "made a mistake" it would hurt their reputation. Now my friend was charged with lifetime probation and has had half his rights taken away for LIFE from simple things like going to the movies to using a computer.
Evidence of his innocense was meaningless to Maricopa County.