tdsmac

tenly said:

[quote]Hey - here's an unrelated question.  I have an iPhone protected by the Activation Lock feature.  Nobody has my Apple ID password.  What happens if I die unexpectedly?  If I bequeath the phone to my son - how will he be able to get past the Activation Lock in order to set it up with his Apple ID?  Will Apple disable the Activation Lock upon presentation of a death certificate?

They can't. Also not everyone wants to give access to private info when deceased. If you want someone to have access to your device(s) when you die, you need to divulge your passcode in some way. Be it a will, Saftey deposit box, etc.  You should be doing the same with your passwords for all you financial accounts as well. Best option would be to include all of these things in a program like 1password and leave the master password, as stated above, in case of death.  This way your loved ones have all your info and don't have to go finding papers and hunting around. 

Maybe one thing Apple could possibly do is allow the creation of a secondary passcode on a device, which can be used in case of death. Better yet, allow you to designate another idevice(s) to receive an authentication code which can unlock your device.  This way no codes are given out manually.  Thus a trusted device.  Now that Apple has a management system, which they will be releasing soon,  for the education market maybe features could be added to manage devices within a household/trusted member.  

[quote]"First of all, we're not asking for a backdoor, nor are we asking anyone to turn anything on to spy on anyone," Lynch said. "We're asking them to do is do what their customer wants. The real owner of the phone is the county, [/quote]

So let's break down this paragraph in reverse. Yes it's true that the county is the owner and they are asking Apple to do what they want. But, just like any other customer, Apple can't retrieve your login credentials. You loose them then you need to start over. This is no different then any encrypted software like 1password or File Vault.  If you loose the key the data can't be retrieved period. 

Lynch is correct that in that they have not asked to turn on anything to spy on anyone. But that is not to say that once the first hurdle is crossed, by writing iOS software to bypass security features that it would be easier to then require a software vendor to take that next step. 

As far as the first sentence, Lynch is correct but only with semantics.  With everything discussed it's disingenuous to state this position. In order to comply with the last sentence, one must write software which creates a back door. She is also ignoring the testimony Comey who even stayed on the record that there are over a hundred other phones, where law enforcement wants access, and can use this as a precedent.  

Total sham.