tdiguy

vaughnv said:

I know nothing about encryption, but I can can think in general terms. Is it not possible for the FBI to turn the phone over to Apple and let them privately and secretly break the encryption on the phone (holding the pass code with Apple, not the FBI)? Couldn't Apple turn over the information from the cracked phone, but not the key? I suppose there must be numerous reasons to prevent this cooperation, but it seems like Apple could assist the FBI in fighting crime, while keeping their key proprietary.

They could yes, but the real point is once it is allowed once it sets a precedence. So after apple proves they can do it the FBI will start requesting the same assistance for other cases. Who knows how commonplace it will become. Maybe it will even become so commonplace where even if you commit a misdemeanor part of the booking in process will be to hack your phone and go through its contents. You know just in case your a terrorist and they havent figured it out yet. Then next thing you know apple gives the code out to law enforcement because it can't keep up with the requests and does not wish to pay its staff simply to crack phones all day. Once that happens it wont take long for hackers to get ahold of it and start cracking every phone they have stolen totally bypassing the security and being able to re-sell the phone as a fully functional unit.