Apple Govt. mandate

[julian abram]

Guess I'm thinking to simple here but why can't Apple open the phone, extract the all the data and had it over to the FBI. No need for the software to leave Apple. There is an article out today that Apple has already done this in 70 other cases working with different law enforcement entities.

[Yonak Hawkins]

In order to create the software to de-encrypt the phone there must be some proprietary knowledge or else any hacker would be able to write the software. If Apple trusts whomever is safeguarding this proprietary knowledge they should trust them to safeguard the de-encryption software. I don't understand this debate.

[James Baker SD]

Good hackers (those with enough resources, i.e. money, behind them) have methods of trying to break into security devices that the average person would never imagine. Before I retired, I used to work on security chips, my job was to anticipate these attacks, and defend against them at the hardware level that software could not override. Without knowing anything about the iPhone, I suspect that it has pretty sophisticated "side channel attack" defenses. Nothing is really secure, you just try to make the cost of hacking the system too high to be profitable (admittedly that applies more to stealing banking info than to national security)

[Dan Hintz]

Correct me Jerome if I'm wrong. Typically don't you have to turn the phone on and get past the password to authorize downloads or updates?

Apple can force updates, if it so chooses...

[Pat Barry]

Apple should not, ever, cooperate with this request. It is a huge Pandora's box with no upside. The FBI should be able to solve this on their own and, I fully expect they can and will. In the meantime, the politician's will make a mess of things, as usual, because they have election agenda's, not national security, as their primary focus. Please close this thread

[Jerome Stanek]

Apple should not, ever, cooperate with this request. It is a huge Pandora's box with no upside. The FBI should be able to solve this on their own and, I fully expect they can and will. In the meantime, the politician's will make a mess of things, as usual, because they have election agenda's, not national security, as their primary focus. Please close this thread

If there is information on it that could stop another attack it is worth it. What would you say if one of your loved ones ended up dead and then you found out that it could have been stopped if they had cracked the phone.

[Mike Henderson]

Apple should not, ever, cooperate with this request. It is a huge Pandora's box with no upside. The FBI should be able to solve this on their own and, I fully expect they can and will. In the meantime, the politician's will make a mess of things, as usual, because they have election agenda's, not national security, as their primary focus. Please close this thread

If Apple can access the data on that phone, other people can also (meaning a determined hacker or a foreign government). If Apple refuses to hack the phone, but announces that they COULD hack it (which I think they did), other entities will search for ways to access data on iPhones. I would not be surprised if the NSA can already hack an iPhone.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Apple can force updates, if it so chooses...

If that is the case, and I don't doubt it, shouldn't we be scared of Apple misusing this capability?

It's a complex issue. Few things are as simple, as black and white, as most people would like to believe. There are REASONABLE solutions but people have to want a solution rather than standing their ground on what they see as morale high ground or beliefs brought on by paranoia.

[Leo Graywacz]

Guess I'm thinking to simple here but why can't Apple open the phone, extract the all the data and had it over to the FBI. No need for the software to leave Apple. There is an article out today that Apple has already done this in 70 other cases working with different law enforcement entities.

Because this isn't what the govt wants. I'm sure they'd refuse to just hand the phone over to Apple because of national security issues. If Apple does this they'll need to destroy the phone. The govt will reverse engineer the procedure and have their way into all new Apple phones.

[Jim Huelskoetter]

Seems like there are two questions. First, should cell phone records have special privacy protections than other forms of documents. I don't think so. Second question is whether it might affect Apple's business, and that seems like a much lower priority than investigating potential ties to terrorism.

[John Goodin]

And what leverage would the US have if it were a Samsung phone, a South Korean company? The funny thing they don't even know if any valuable info is on the phone. My guess is no. If there was I would have thought they would have destroyed before the attack.

[Paul F Franklin]

You do to update firmware in the normal way....presumably with physical access to the phone there are alternative ways to install firmware, such as would be done during manufacturing.

[Leo Graywacz]

Secret Memo Details U.S.’s Broader Strategy to Crack Phones

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...o-crack-phones

[Ken Fitzgerald]

....and it turns out it wasn't the shooter's personal phone but one issued to him by his San Bernardino County employer. So, is anything on that phone the shooter's "private or personal" data or does it belong to the owner of the phone...the county government agency?


It's complex.

[Leo Graywacz]

Who has the password? They are essentially the guardian of the information.