Cops purposely using Terrorist case to target iPhone .

[Timmy]

the jackboots aren't stupid . You think its a coinsidence they are using the Cali shootings as a test case to break apples encryption ? It's perfect ! After all they are trying to stop terror and * GASP* .. ISIS !!

As if this was the first case where the federalies wanted into an iPhone . But if it was some tax dodging case, no one would back the po-lice.

But once they break one , they can then break them all!!


Here's my question . Why not just use all that NSA metadata to see who the shooters were talking too?

 

[JakeStarkey]

Yup.

 

[MaryL]

Whiners purposely looking for reasons to whine. I don't care if the feds find a front or back door to my phone, it's the hackers that are that the bad guys. And hackers don't get legal federal warrants and they will find a way in, regardless. So what is the big deal, APPLE?

 

[Timmy]

Whiners purposely looking for reasons to whine. I don't care if the feds find a front or back door to my phone, it's the hackers that are that the bad guys. And hackers don't get legal federal warrants and they will find a way in, regardless. So what is the big deal, APPLE?

Except apples product is great at stopping hackers . U want to undo that ?!

 

[Timmy]

What a surprise that the GOP guys were all against Apple . They hate the constitution.

Rubies said somthing stupid . "They don't want the code from Apple , they just want them to stop the delete option from too many tries ".

Gee, then the whizzes at the FBI could eventually figure out the four didget code?

 

[waltky]

Round one goes to Apple...

NY judge: US cannot make Apple provide iPhone data
29 Feb.`16 - A New York judge says the U.S. Justice Department cannot force Apple to provide the FBI with access to locked iPhone data in a routine Brooklyn drug case

A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Justice Department cannot use a 227-year-old law to force Apple to provide the FBI with access to locked iPhone data, dealing a blow to the government in its battle with the company over privacy and public safety. The ruling, by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, applied narrowly to one Brooklyn drug case, but it gives support to the company's position in its fight against a California judge's order that it create specialized software to help the FBI hack into an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino terrorism investigation. Orenstein belittled some government arguments, saying attorneys were stretching an old law "to produce impermissibly absurd results." He rejected government claims Apple was only concerned with public relations. He said he found no limit on how far the government would go to require a person or company to violate the most deeply-rooted values.

And he said claims that Apple must assist the government because it reaped the benefits of being an American company "reflects poorly on a government that exists in part to safeguard the freedom of its citizens." Both cases hinge partly on whether a law written long before the computer age, the 1789 All Writs Act, could be used to compel Apple to cooperate with efforts to retrieve data from encrypted phones. "Ultimately, the question to be answered in this matter, and in others like it across the country, is not whether the government should be able to force Apple to help it unlock a specific device; it is instead whether the All Writs Act resolves that issue and many others like it yet to come," Orenstein wrote. "I conclude that it does not."

Apple's opposition to the government's tactics has evoked a national debate over digital privacy rights and national security. On Thursday, the Cupertino, California-based company formally objected to the California order, accusing the federal government of seeking "dangerous power" through the courts and of trampling on the company's constitutional rights. The separate California case involves an iPhone 5C owned by San Bernardino County and used by Syed Farook, who was a health inspector. He and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people during a Dec. 2 attack that was at least partly inspired by the Islamic State group. The couple died later in a gun battle with police. Orenstein, ruling with an eye to the California case, referenced it multiple times in a 50-page ruling and noted that the government request there was far more "intrusive."

MORE

 

[waltky]

US invites experts to hack the Pentagon...

Pentagon invites hackers in and backs encryption
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 - The US defence secretary Ash Carter invites hackers to help find security holes and backs strong encryption, amid the fight between Apple and the FBI.

The Pentagon has invited external experts to hack into its systems in the first such test of its cybersecurity measures. The method is often used by private companies that want to use the expertise of "friendly" hackers to find holes in their systems. It came after the US defence secretary backed strong encryption amid the FBI's phone unlocking row with Apple. Ash Carter called on tech firms and the US government to work together.

The US Department of Defense launched its Hack the Pentagon project on Wednesday, inviting vetted outside hackers to test the security of some of its public websites. According to the Reuters news agency, the programme will be modelled on the hacking bounties often run by firms, in which experts are offered incentives to identify and report security issues. The Pentagon said it was also considering offering financial rewards.


'Digital defences'

"I am confident that this innovative initiative will strengthen our digital defences and ultimately enhance our national security," Mr Carter said. The Pentagon has long tested its own networks using internal so-called "red teams" but this initiative - the first such scheme to be run by the US federal government - would open at least some of its vast network of computer systems to cyberchallenges from across industry and academia.

However, the Pentagon said that other more sensitive networks or key weapons programs would not be included in the scheme, at least initially. "The goal is not to comprise any aspect of our critical systems, but to still challenge our cybersecurity in a new and innovative way," one senior defence official told Reuters. The official said they expected thousands of qualified participants to sign up ahead of the pilot scheme's opening in April.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Ash Carter Warns Against Tech 'Back Doors'...

US Defense Secretary Warns Against Tech 'Back Doors'
March 03, 2016 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Wednesday he opposes "a single technical approach" as a solution to the complex legal battle between Apple and the FBI.

The FBI has asked the tech company for assistance unlocking the passcode to an iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the shooters who killed 14 in San Bernardino, California last December.

Apple refused the request, saying it cannot be asked to hack one of its own devices. The company says the creation of a "back-door" could endanger a wide array of devices while raising privacy concerns. "I don't think we ought to let one case drive a general conclusion or solution," Carter said in remarks at a San Francisco tech event. "We have to work together to work our way out through this problem."

Carter also warned that legislation written by Congress to deal with the issue could be lacking technical knowledge and "may be written in an atmosphere of anger and grief." Apple filed a formal objection to a Federal order to assist the FBI on March 2. Tech companies Microsoft, Google and Facebook are expected to file briefs supporting Apple on Thursday.

US Defense Secretary Warns Against Tech 'Back Doors'

 

[S.J.]

Wouldn't it be better to just put a ban on muslims coming into the country and start monitoring the mosques instead of violating American's rights?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - an' dat's why dey need to crack dat jihadi's iphone...

Police say criminals like Apple iPhones because of encryption
4 Mar.`16 - Some criminals have switched to new iPhones as their "device of choice" to commit wrongdoing due to strong encryption Apple Inc has placed on their products, three law enforcement groups said in a court filing.

The groups told a judge overseeing Apple's battle with the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday that, among other things, they were aware of "numerous instances" in which criminals who previously used so-called throwaway burner phones have now switched to iPhones. They did not list a specific instance of this practice. The brief by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and two other also cited a jailhouse phone call intercepted by New York authorities in 2015, in which the inmate called Apple's encrypted operating system "another gift from God." The government obtained a court order last month requiring Apple to write new software to disable passcode protection and allow access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December killings in San Bernardino, California.

Apple asked that the order be vacated, arguing that such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security. Tech industry leaders including Google, Facebook and Microsoft and more than two dozen other companies filed legal briefs on Thursday supporting Apple. The Justice Department received support from law enforcement groups and six relatives of San Bernardino victims. The law enforcement groups said in their brief that Apple's stance poses a grave threat to investigations across the country. They listed several instances where Apple previously turned over data, and in one case, that cooperation helped clear an innocent man suspected of a homicide.

Apple has said it respects the FBI and has cooperated by turning over data in its possession. "Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants," Tim Cook said in a letter to customers last month. The San Bernardino request is different, Apple says, because it requires them to crack a phone with a software tool that does not currently exist. Law enforcement officials have said that Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by Islamist militants when they shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others on Dec. 2 at a holiday party in San Bernardino. Farook and Malik were later killed in a shootout with police, and the FBI said it wants to read the data on Farook's work phone to investigate any links with militant groups.

Police say criminals like Apple iPhones because of encryption