Category: Let's talk
Apple is known for keeping its operating systems and devices secure. In the past few years, they have even ventured so far as to prevent itself for having access to almost all of your information, excluding your iCloud backups, but the united states government has been trying to push them into coding a back door. This comes in the form of a special program or form of operating system that would allow the FBI to use its broot force tools to gain access to phones they need to access. What do you all think about this? Do you think they should do it? Or is apple justified in staying stationary, and or pushing back. It’s rumored that they are working on an iOS update that would prevent even them from hacking into the operating system.
My immediate knee-jerk reaction would be to say absolutely not. privacy is very important, and we all have a rite to it. Apple is justified in fighting this. At the same time, allowing the FBI to gain greater access to criminal elements may help in keeping the peace. Honestly, I'm so low profile that I've never really given such things more than a passing thought, except in the realms of writing fiction, but I can easily see both sides of the equasion.
Its a very slippery slope. Apple needs to keep our information safe, but the government needs to be able to collect bits of information that can assist them. But if the government can take advantage of that back door, what's to stop other people with bad intentions from doing the same thing?
It's actually more secure, easier and better for them in the long tun to prevent access than it is to provide backdoor methods, let alone the side door / kitchen window ajar entrances other operating systems like Windows provide, albeit they didn't do this for that reason.
For sake of this discussion I shall refrain from putting on my stereotypical anti-state tinfoil hat for a moment, tempting as that hat might be. Even if you love big brother and welcome the dart in the back of your neck, such an open door is, no more and no less, an open door. Once that horse leaves the barn there isn't going to be anything Apple or the Fibbies can do about it except close it and create a new one. There isn't anything on your phone a diligent officer couldn't find elsewhere. Not anything of actual value in tracing you, figuring out your motivation, etc. Just because we now use these phones doesn't automatically mean that all other methods of getting information are now obsolete and unavailable.
After all, most identity theft today still happens on paper and using so-called primitive technologies like magnetic readers in stores that were tampered with. The so-called low-tech solutions are far less traceable and require fewer participants / fewer potential loose lips on the ship. So, if you're tempted to sympathize with the Fibbies here, save your sympathy for someone who needs it. This court circus is just the 21st century reenactment of the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy For the Devil".
I actually had posted this exact topic or question.
Apple has helped the government in all ways they could. The government even made a mistake and locked up the iCloud backup, so lost some information.
That information may, or may not have been worth something, but they did it after Apple had instructed them on how not to.
Unlocking this device won’t help fight crime, and probably won’t solved this case.
Once you get this open, then you are asking other tech companies to do the same, or setting precedence and that is what Apple is fighting.
Other programs and such are encrypted.
Will the government give us access to their encrypted files? It might even hurt that too if you think about it.
So the open iOS, criminals will simply use other methods.
Last, if they’d taken the couple alive, they couldn’t legally torcher them to get information they didn’t want to give them. The could only ask and try to trick them in to telling.
Why should an electronic device or door be opened in to all our devices to solve this case when it may be all she had on there was a call to her mother?
No.
We have definitely had this discussion before on a previous board post, and my stance is still the same: absolutely not. Even in this particular case, everyone knows that the two responsible in this were psychopathic extremists. Aside from giving a bit more information regarding people they had contact with which they could probably get by just pulling phone records, the phone will give nothing of value. If we are still discussing the California case.
The way I see it, the government already has too much access. Furthermore, no one can tell you, again as stated in the previous post that this backdoor won't be hackable by someone else. No one can give this concrete proof, because no one can say that an FBI guy won't give it to one of his buddies who might want to find out who his girlfriend has been screwing. Then that guy will give it to someone else, and so on. No, Apple definitely should fight this with everything possible. If all that will enable these people to do their jobs better is the ability to hack a phone, then they already suck at doing their jobs.
I agree. And, that's one more thing criminals will be able to do. The government talks a good game, but when a CIA agent's name is leaked, nothing is safe, if they get their hands on it. They can't even get my biomedical stuff approoved on time, so the whole thing bites.
I don't want the government in my IPhone, cause the lawbreakers have ears in government. Think I'm wrong? One word for you:
"WATERGATE".
Blessings,
Sarah
Not only would it open the same door for someone with bad intensions, but are all the government's intensions good and pure? There are crooked people up there.
Really? I'm shocked! Someone in Government might be corrupt? Wow!
LOL!
Sorry, I feel sarcastic. Speaking of, I just had a question about not-quite-legal activities:
Did Congressman Weiner, that's Anthony Weiner, use an IPhone to send that girl his "Picture?" "Selfy?" LOL
Blessings,
Sarah
The only argument I have seen that made me even consider changing my
pro-apple stance on this issue was a case out of, if memory serves me, Los
Angeles. It involved a murder, where the victim had, the police believed at least,
recorded her own murder. So if they could unlock her phone, they could view
the video, and get a picture of the murderer. However, I can think of other ways
to do this. Especially now with the technology on the new iphone. I mean, you
have the body, and you have the phone. Push the thumb of the body against
the fingerprint scanner of the phone, and you're into the phone. Not that hard.
Now, that wouldn't work with the phone in this famous case, the one we're
discussing in this post, because it is an iphone 5c, which doesn't have that
reader. But soon this should be a non-issue.
Personally though, I don't think its a big enough issue for us to force
insecurity on people. If it would save millions of lives, I might consider it, but it
won't. It might, if you stretched credulity, save a handful of lives, but that's all,
and soon it won't even matter anyway. Give it a couple years and there will be
other ways of getting the information.
Plus, and I've not been able to find an answer to this question, why doesn't
the FBI just plug the phone into the guy's computer? Everything will come up if
they do that, or nearly everything. If the guy had a mac, it'll tell them all the
texts and calls he's made. its not that hard.
They did exactly that, but they locked up the iCloud backup.
One of the tech made a mistake, so now the phone won't access it.
Apple instructed them, but they goofed.
They gave them her password.
I'm not sure exactly what they did, and that was my first reaction too, because I've often times helped others with iPhones in that way.
The feds goofed? They are supposed to be that much smarter than we the lowly masses! That's why they make rules for us, you see?
Sorry, sarcasm gets me again. I just think it goes to show that the "Geeks and Techies," all don't work for Uncle Scam. LOL
If they did, maybe some medical problems with insurance wouldn't be so hard.
Blessings,
Sarah, one of the lowly poor folks, that the government thinks knows Diddley-squat!
Well, the FBI has nothing to do with your medical. Only if you are stealing drugs. Smile.
I'm pro-Apple all the way on this. There is no need for them to provide the FBI with a back door because there's no guarantee that other people won't learn the "secret" too.
What's the point in this case of giving the government access? It's just more bullshit really. The terrorists are dead, their personal phones were destroyed, so obviously whatever information they had that would have been worth a damn is now gone. They sure picked a stupid case to push this forward with...
Well there interested in this phone, because for some reason they missed distorying it.
I really don't think it contains anything worth a damn, and if it did, the others have regrouped by now, so still not worth a damn.
We'll learn more this week coming up.
Pretty intelligent government, to brag: "We got this terrorist's phone, and can't crack it!" You think the terrorists don't know by now? They'd be stupid terrorists, if they didn't.
God Bless,
Sarah
what I don't understand is if the fbi is supposed to be this elite crime fighting organization, why can't they solve this problem quietly and unobtrusively. they have the whole puzzle palace which could help them. there has to be more to this story than we know. of course, I just watched the movie black mass so I have kind of a, shall we say, cynical attitude toward the purity of our fbbi. guess i'll shut up now.
An update on this case. THE FBI has figured out a process of getting at the data on the phone, thus dropping the charges with apple. they removed the flash chips from the phone, made copies of them, and just tried broot forcing the pass code over and over and they finally got it.
So does that mean the story about water being spilt on the phone isn't true?
I'm now confused.
here's the article.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/unlocked-iphone-worthless-after-f-b-i-spills-glass-of-water-on-it
I wondered about that process. I had understood the FBI wasn't saying.
Apple was correct, if they released this so quickly and easy it would have been exactly the same if Apple had built the back door.
I do applaud them for figuring out this on their own however.
Now it is time for Apple to fix that.
Provided this method is the actual one.
Of course, I don't guess my information is at risk. I mean, who's going to go to the expense of learning I am boring?
Laughing.
Go! Apple!
Also, I highly disbelieve they spilt water on the phone.
Maybe, just maybe they never got it unlocked.
Now, how can they ask the courts to now make Apple help them when they said "we don't need you?"
Seems to me this is twice a mistake was made trying to get info from this phone.
The whole thing was and is stupid. The government's just ticked off, cause Apple won't cave in. Now that they got the information, they're just saying:
"Nanny Nanny Boo Boo!
We got past you!"
Seems like a governmental childish response. And, we trust these people to run the country? Just wow.
Interesting.
Did they mess up or not.
They sent this out though.
http://www.cnet.com/news/fbi-to-police-well-help-unlock-iphones-when-possible/
the water story was just satire. I don't think that actually happened. plus, with the methud they decided to use, once they removed the chips, they didn't really need the phone anymore.