Urei1620
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Company, not Cook, will be held responsible if Apple loses fight over FBI case, experts say
James Comey should come clean about his coercive tactics and step down as Director of the FBI.thewhitefalcon said:
The FBI needs to be stopped. 
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FBI contacted Apple, received data related to San Bernardino case 3 days after shooting
Is this a discussion about grammar? If so,then you should read your own posts before posting. You are misspelling words and have duplicates.tenly said:This article is kind of sloppy. Was it written in a hurry? There are several grammatical mistakes. There are also inaccuracies and lots of speculation and opinion that is presented as fact.
This issue is difficult enough to discuss without all that. People are arguing with emotion instead of fact and many people act like they've never heard of the constitution.
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Investigators have been unsuccessful in their attempts to break into Farook's iPhone 5c, which is protected by a strong encryption method designed to thwart brute-force attacks. [/quote]
My understanding is that the phone in question is only protected by a 4-digit passcode. A brute force attack would take half an hour or less to find the right passcode whereas a well chosen passphrase could take hundreds or thousands of years to crack. A four digit passcode is hardly a component of a strong encryption method. The thing that makes it difficult to crack in this case is the auto-wipe feature which wipes the phone after 10 incorrect password attempts. While that's part of the security model in place - it's not part of the "encryption method" and like it or not, I think the government would be able to declare it illegal and force Apple to remove it - not the encryption - just the booby trap which once triggered - destroys evidence (which is already illegal). If the government chose to pursue the auto-wipe in isolation - I think they'd be able to compel Apple to remove it from this particular phone (not all phones) without Apple having any grounds to object. If this ability were to "get out", it wouldn't compromise Apples encryption - but it would force us all to use passwords or passphrases to ensure our data remains private from governments and hackers alike. 4-digit codes would no longer offer any real security. This would acutely completely solve the problem for this "one phone" however, it doesn't set a useful precedent and would be useless against phones using proper passwords which is why (I presume) they are not going this route. But by ignoring this approach which would solve their problem for "this one phone", they are proving that their intentions do not end with "this one phone" as they have stated publicly.
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To circumvent this particular security layer Apple would need to write a new, compromised version of its iOS operating system, sign the code and install it on the device. But Apple is refusing to comply, citing an overreach of federal authority and potential First Amendment rights implications. [/quote]
This, I believe is speculation. If all they wanted to do is to disable the auto-wipe booby trap - they wouldn't have to touch the operating system. All Apple would have to do is take the existing firmware - find the line that adds 1 to the "incorrect password counter" and change the formula so that it adds "0" instead of "1". Then, they would just have to replace/update the existing firmware with the 1-byte tweak and give the phone back to the FBI. They could pay a clerk to start entering passcodes with 0-0-0-0 and incrementing by 1 until they find the code that unlocks the phone. Shouldn't take any longer than a couple of days I would think. And even if (when) the FBI lost control of this "revised firmware" - it would quickly become completely useless as everybody concerned with pricacy (which should be all of us) would stop using 4-digit codes and begin using secure passphrases. Apple could even help speed up this process by eliminating 4 digit passcodes ame forcing users to choose something secure.
In any case - speculating that a new, compromised OS would have to be created seems like fear-mongering. That is certainly one-possibility - but an extremely unlikely one. There are other ways that Apple could comply with a law requiring them to help - if such a law is indeed created that passes all constitutional challenges.
Chang of topic.
On many of these recent threads, there are many people who are arguing about what Apple should or shouldn't do in response to the demands of the FBI. These are useless debates. It's clear what Apple should be doing - and it appears that they are doing exactly that. Apple is a private company, responsible to its shareholders. They don't have a choice. They must do what is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. Tim Cook is not the owner of the business and cannot choose to ignore a law, risking punishment simply because he disagrees with it. If it is in the best interest of Apple to do business in the USA, Apple must comply with their laws. If the law doesn't seem right - they can (and should) challenge it all the way to the Supreme Court - but - when the dust settles and the final ruling is made - Apple must (and Apple will) comply with the law. In this case - that is exactly what is happening. It would be irresponsible - and not in the best interest of Apple, its shareholders - and all of us - for Apple to not challenge the existing demands, so they can and will fight this with all legal options open to them. When they run out of legal options to refuse - they will comply with any law that comes out of this. They have to.
I dont want to give up my privacy and I am happy that Apple is challenging the FBI. I hope they win - but the debates on these forums are useless if they ignore the constitution, if they ignore reality and if they ignore reality.
I always laugh at people who have never done software development/programming. Simpletons like you think that what the courts are asking Apple to do is a one-line code change. I am actually surprised that Apple has estimated up to 4 weeks of work. I would have thought that this could take months. It is not only the software development, but all the testing involved that takes lots of time. It is tricky. You do not want to brick the target iPhone.
The fact is that this court order is an overreach of government powers. This is no longer about Apple 's willingness to help. Apple has always been expeditious in responding to warrants. However, when Apple has to pull a considerable amount of resources to develop a product that undermines its own product by court order, it is no longer reasonable.
I do not know how you can write "I dont want to give up my privacy and I am happy that Apple is challenging the FBI. I hope they win" when everything you have written shows that your position is quite the opposite.
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San Bernardino's top cop says it's likely 'there is nothing of any value' on iPhone the FBI wants A
I knew it. Farook had a personal phone, which he destroyed prior to the attack and deleted his backups, likely to cover his tracks. I really would not expect anyone from using a work phone to plot a terrorist attack for fear of getting caugh or leaving behind important information. No way. This phone case is being used by the FBI as a pretext to ensnare Apple.
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FBI contacted Apple, received data related to San Bernardino case 3 days after shooting
it should be the government's job to crack encryption and it should be very expensive, at the level of quantum computing. I am OK with the US government cracking encryption as long as they are the only ones who can do it and that each time they have to run the machine, it cost lots of money. Compelling a private company to write software to bypass their own encryption schemes is not good, not good at all. Apple is not a branch of the government.ejkr said:
So are you saying the 14 dead in San Bernardino are now enjoying personal freedom and liberty? In ww2 our best technical experts created Enigma machine decoder to defeat the fascists. (Because the "Greatest Generation" had it's priorities and head on straight). Today, the "Most Confused Generation" instead creates an enigma to help the fascists of our time to kill us, and with convoluted logic, orchestrates it's own oblivion. This is how intelligence destroys itself. Wake up man!647367 said:So, are you saying that giving up some personal freedom and liberty in exchange for government protection is the right thing to do? Fascist governments have promised the same thing for a very long time and none of them delivered on that promise. Wake up man!
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FBI contacted Apple, received data related to San Bernardino case 3 days after shooting
It is no secret that Comey considers the use of encrypted phones and end-to-end encryption above the law. The encryption debate has gone to Congress, fueled by Comey's nonsense. For someone in his position, as Director of FBI, he should be watchful of what he says for the sake of maintaining a credible public opinion. Even ex-NSA Chief Michael Hayden has come out saying in regards to end-to-end encryption, which Comey also opposes (surprise?) "I disagree with Jim Comey, I actually think end-to-end encryption is good for America." I suspect that the FBI intentionally requested the reseting of the password to create a pretext to force Apple to create a backdoor to the iPhone, undermine encryption, and create a precedence for future cases. The information in the phone is likely of little value to the San Bernardino case. Farook had a personal phone, which he destroyed prior to the attack and deleted his backups, likely to cover his tracks. Farook's work phone, if it had anything of value, would have bled information in the form of calls, messages. All which would have been captured by NSA or cellphone provider in the form of metadata. I suspect that Farook never used his work phone in the commissioning of the terrorist act for fear of getting caught early, since it was a work phone. Trust me. It was a work phone! nobody wanting to plot a terrorist attack will be calling Pakistan using a work phone. Only an idiot would use a work phone to plot a terrorist act and Farook was no idiot, though misguided and naive. I hope, after the dust settles in the case, that Apple will not be forced into writing the ridiculous "GovtOS" and that Jim Comey resign or get fired for incompetence.
