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FBI director admits under oath that iPhone case would set a precedent; public & Republican candidates still on FBI side

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FBI director James Comey – who had previously claimed that “the San Bernardino litigation isn’t about trying to set a precedent” – has now admitted that it would. The Guardian reports that Comey made the admission when testifying under oath yesterday to a Congress committee.

The ultimate outcome of the Apple-FBI showdown is likely to “guide how other courts handle similar requests”, James Comey told a congressional intelligence panel on Thursday, a softening of his flat insistence on Sunday that the FBI was not attempting to “set a precedent”.

Asked if it was true that police departments around the country also wanted to gain access to locked iPhones, he agreed that it was …

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is one of those who has said his office is planning to bring similar cases to court, the Guardian reporting that he has 175 cases of locked iPhones awaiting the outcome of the FBI case.

Comey also appears to be going easier on Apple.

“There are no demons here,” said Comey, striking a more conciliatory tone than that of the Justice Department’s accusation in court last week that Apple was placing “marketing” over security.

Apple’s top lawyer Bruce Sewell is due to testify before the same committee next week. Tim Cook has said that creating a tool to unlock iPhones is “the software equivalent of cancer.”

The American public, however, still sides with the FBI – though not decisively so. The latest poll (via The Verge) of just under 2000 registered voters shows that 51% say Apple should unlock the phone, while 33% think it shouldn’t (and 16% are undecided). San Bernardino victims and families of the victims are also divided.

CNET reports that all five remaining Republican Presidential candidates unsurprisingly come down on the side of the FBI, with Marco Rubio the most aggressive in his language.

“Apple doesn’t want to do it [hack the phone] because they think it hurts their brand,” Rubio insisted. “Well, let me tell you their brand is not superior to the United State of America.”

Bizarrely, this appeared to contradict a statement he made last week that Apple “wasn’t necessarily in the wrong.”

Catch up on all our coverage of the case in the links below.

Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

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Comments

  1. PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

    If Tim stands firm will he be thrown into jail? Can we ​jailbreak him?

    • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

      Probably not.
      Remember, apple has dat cash.
      :d

    • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

      Probably if they’re running an older version of cellOS.

      • Jesse Nichols - 8 years ago

        Well, as a web developer… I can assure you that the government is ALWAYS running older versions of every OS… Lol

  2. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    People really have no idea of what apple is trying to do for them.
    I don’t blame them, most of the news media outlets are biased.

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      I tried to take one of these online polls but it wasn’t supported by Safari on iPhone – so how representative are such polls?

  3. shareef777 - 8 years ago

    And here I thought the Republican Party was the one that fought for small and minimalistic government. When the government tries to pass pollution regulation they’d be the first to fight it arguing it’d hurt industries (ones they’re heavily invested in like oil/auto). But any increased government action that steps on individual liberties, ah well, automatic stamp of approval. SMH!

    • Ben Lovejoy - 8 years ago

      I hesitate to comment on American politics, but as an outsider this does seem an issue where both parties should be on the side of privacy.

      • 89p13 - 8 years ago

        Privacy and Security as outlined in our Governing Documents from the late 1700’s – until the late 1980’s

        US Government seems to be practicing “Do as I say, not as I do!”

      • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

        Privacy and security as outlined by the fact that I was born a human being and not a slave.

    • pretsky - 8 years ago

      They are for small government. And the FBI asking for Apples help to hack into a terrorists phone has nothing to do with the size of government.
      What Apple should be concerned about is that the FBI can just as easily put out a $1 million reward for the first person that delivers code to break into the iPhone and leave Apple out of the loop entirely. Having a cooperative relationship with the FBI, as long as they have a warrant and are conducting a lawful investigation, would be the best thing for everyone.

      • srgmac - 8 years ago

        Just as Tim said in that interview, the FBI and DOJ have had a very positive cooperative working relationship with Apple, prior to this. On this issue, the FBI acted without contacting them first, and then filed the suit in court, without even letting them know about it. Tim found out from the press! It’s clear they intended to use this as a political stunt, from the beginning. Tim said he has worked with DOJ / FBI many times in the past, they had a good relationship, they were friends — and Tim said if he had a previous relationship with someone, he would tell them personally before filing a suit against them — it’s just common courtesy. But the FBI needed to make Apple look like the bad guys here, in order to get most of the idiotic low information Fox News viewership public on their side with all the lies in the media lately. It’s ridiculous. Most people have no idea that Apple sent engineers to the FBI to assist them with trying to get the iCloud backup going. Most people have no idea that the FBI are the ones that screwed up here by changing the iCloud password and not contacting Apple first when they originally received the phone. Just proves Tim’s point that it was never about this one phone. These tactics are disgusting and it proves the FBI is using a terrorist attack to try to influence public policy and paint Apple as villains. Makes me sick.

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      HAH! The GOP is one big hypocrisy — The only one who would have stood up for Apple is Rand Paul. The party of personal liberties, the GOP is not.

    • dComments (@dComments) - 8 years ago

      So, we have Republican members of Congress siding with the FBI along with a Democratic administration (FDI Director appointed by President Obama) No party seems to be on the side of privacy in this case.

  4. giuseppe1111 - 8 years ago

    Most of people supporting Apple still claim that this is a fight for the defense of their privacy rights.

    No.
    This is a problem of a company defending its revenues, its brand strength refusing allocate (any) resources to cooperate with justice.

    Only the Law will protect people’s rights, not a company, because this is not in its very interest.

    The company should have have been more clear to state that this is not concerning consumer protection, avoiding to use easy fears and hopes.

    • mrmagoo85 - 8 years ago

      You were dropped on your head as a child, weren’t you?

      Or at least a Trump supporter?

      The law protects people’s rights? Yeah. What country do you live in. If it’s the same one as me, you know damn well the US politicians care more about lining their own pockets than anything else.

      This is clearly about privacy and safety – the changes to iOS and OS X have shown that over the past few years. From encryption in iOS and messaging, to enabling FileVault 2 by default rather than not, to requiring passwords on Macs – it’s clearly been a concern.

      Please do not speak if you’re just going to be part of the uneducated masses causing trouble.

    • 2is1toomany - 8 years ago

      You might wanna check your facts.

      Apple sent them engineers to help them with the phone since the days following the shooting. They did allocate resources specifically to help the FBI. Just the law alone can’t protect people’s rights. You need people to defend them when the government forgets how to. People like civil rights leaders and activists. And Tim Cook has been just that.

      • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

        The people who make up Apple outline exactly why government is a useless and parasitic entity as a whole. It is visionaries and engineers and entrepreneurs and activists who change things and who progress the world. It is not people who believe they were ordained by God to use force to rule others. Billions of deaths throughout history are one lone testimony of that.

    • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

      Ouch, your ignorants makes me cringe.
      The “law” are actually people who are going after their own agenda.
      Everywhere they go, they treat blood as if it were cheep, thats everywhere else that is not the US or the EU.
      Example, terrorists kill 14 people in france, everyone goes, o my god, what a tragedy. Yet, coalition forces bomb the hell out of the middle east, and thousands of civilians are killed, and they had nothing to do with terrorists, no one even sheds a tear for them. So the “law” is non existent in this day and age. unlocking people’s devices are not the way for fighting terrorism.

      • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

        No offense to anyone from france.

      • luckydcxx - 8 years ago

        130 killed, 368 wounded. Not 14.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        Quite so. Also, they weren’t terrorists. Neither were the two in the SB shooting. These are ‘just people’, who likely wouldn’t have been monitored by the FBI if there was a backdoor, since they never done anything wrong before their killings. Heck, the ones in the Paris attacks didn’t even use iPhones. Just old school dumb phones, with their SMS conversations sent in plain text.

    • 89p13 - 8 years ago

      giuseppe1111 – Troll much? Or has mrmagoo85 identified your problem? Almost ALL of the tech companies and the agencies that try to protect our rights have all come out on Apple’s side of the argument, but you insist on saying it’s “Apple . . . defending its revenues and brand strength? REALLY?

      You and John Smith (another possible troll) should go off and form your own society and support the products that you feel are “Good for Security.”

    • ag80911 - 8 years ago

      Amazing comments here, Apple has so many valid legal arguments that they are going to beat this – take a moment to read…

      1-No precedence – there’s never being a request to any private company to write software for the government to defeat encryption- Apple is not a contractor or a government employee.

      2-There is law already that prevents the government from demanding changes to software or hardware – In the section of CALEA entitled “Design of features and systems configurations,” 47 U.S.C. § 1002(b)(1), the statute says that it “does not authorize any law enforcement agency or officer — (1) to require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features, or system configurations to be adopted by any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support services.

      3-The “only” one phone argument has already being debunk – and even if that was the case, Apple will have to document and log this process, since the first thing any smart defense lawyer will do is to challenge how was the information extracted from a locked phone.

      4-The government knowing or un-knowing screw up their own data recovery. Without consulting Apple they change the icloud password and lost all hope to get the data. In addition, if that government owned phone would have been enrolled with Mobile Device manager (MDM) they would have being able to unlock the phone themselves no questions asked.

    • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

      Unfortunately, on these forums at least, we’re in the minority. Die hard Apple fans, simply cannot see beyond their iPhone. They literally have no idea how the government helps people by the millions every day.

      • Robert - 8 years ago

        Taking strong encryption away from the law abiding people does not take it away from criminals, who will use it regardless through third party software and devices made outside of the US..

        This means that in the war against crime and terrorism the innocent would be 100% disarmed and open to attack whilst the bad guys would go on using encryption.

        The bad guys would win, we would have trouble preventing our identities from being stolen, our businesses from being sabotaged etc

        Part of the war of terror is a cyber war. If we weaken the security of our businesses and personal devices we loose that war!

      • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

        ……put down the Kool-Aid….slowly………

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @Robert,
        I understand what you are saying. All phones be they Apple or Android e.t.c. are always “open to attack” or to be hacked.
        If your arguments make sense – then Apple should provide a backdoor into an iPhone and unlock it whenever a court order appears for it to do so.
        Then everyones phones could stay “safe” and only be opened by Apple at such a time.
        Really, if you’re not a criminal, theres nothing wrong with snooping law enforcement.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        “Really, if you’re not a criminal, theres nothing wrong with snooping law enforcement”

        Sound similar to Eric Schmidt: “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @Philboogie, yep, that sounds about right. Whats the problem in that exactly?

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        The problem is that Eric Schmidt was being full of shit: read his hypocrisy over here:
        http://www.salon dot com/2013/11/04/googles_nsa_outrage_correct_and_hypocritical/

        As to *snooping law enforcement*, they have no idea who to snoop on because these terrible killings are mostly being performed by people who aren’t terrorists at all; they are simply people of our society. The SB killers weren’t on the TSDB (Terrorist Screening Database), neither were the people who committed the crimes in Paris late last year.

        People, not you specifically, really need to understand the ramifications when generalising things as ‘snooping is ok for law enforcement’ because one thinks this will lead to less deaths.

        Did you know there were 3,400 people killed in the States due to terrorist attacks since 2001? As for comparisons’ sake, this is the same number of deaths the US has seen from household guns (suicide, domestic violence et cetera) in the past 5 weeks. Let that sink in for a minute and tell me how important creating a backdoor to ≈ 1 billion devices is.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        Hmm, I thought I could circumvent the moderation of an URL by writing out the dot in .com but apparently I’m doing it wrong. MODS: please cleanup that URL if approved. TIA.

      • srgmac - 8 years ago

        You’re ignoring the facts in this case. The FBI is using a terrorist attack to play on the heartstrings of sheeple and trying to influence public policy.
        Facts:

        1.) FBI acted without even contacting Apple first about getting the data — so they obviously didn’t care that much about this one phone and future attacks
        2.) FBI changed iCloud password which prevents phone from backing up most recent data to iCloud — huge mistake, again goes to #1
        3.) Apple gave the FBI four methods to get the data that didn’t involve Apple having to code something that doesn’t even exist as of right now
        4.) Apple sent engineers to the FBI to help them
        5.) Apple & DOJ / FBI have worked together in the past — has always been a positive relationship — they were friendly with each other
        6.) FBI filed suit in court without even telling Apple about it first
        7.) Multiple security groups (with proven track records and history) have said they can get the data without Apple having to do anything — FBI is not interested in even listening to them at all.

        If the government can force a private company to code software that as of right now does not exist, that scares the crap out of me.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        Another fact: it wasn’t Farook’s phone, it was his employer’s.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @Philboogie, thanks for the link – I got it to work.(Without hacking an iphone:) )
        Look, I understand both sides of the argument here, just that we (as a society) should help any way we can to combat crime, be it terrorism, gun violence, petty theft.

        What would YOU suggest to help the FBI in concrete terms in this case?
        Realising that the phone, could (or could not) holdt vital information to combat another attack?
        The easiest is to to allow the FBI access to the phone.
        What else could we, or Apple do to help the FBI in this particular case?
        If you come up with a viable solution, I’ll change my opinion, but until then, safety is first. Lives depend on it!

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        I’m in no position to give any sane answer to that question as I’m not trained for this; it’s not my expertise. But by all means, shoot at (wow, poor choice of words!) this:

        1. The police NOT shooting Farook, nor Malik. I mean, who would have more ammunition? My bet is on the police, with a SWAT team close, conducting a training exercise, resulting in 300(!) armed law enforcement agents. It only took a mere 5 minutes for them to kill them both, the killers being in a Ford Expedition, the Police used multiple BearCat armoured personnel carriers in confronting the shooters (http://www.ksbw.com/news/controversial-military-style-police-vehicles-in-demand-during-san-bernardino-attack/36786868 via Wikipedia)

        2. Ask Apple to help them out on getting data from Farook, nee, the employer of Farook’s phone. Also, see if that iPhone was the only phone he was using, this still is unknown, or at least to me. The FBI shouldn’t have changed the AppleID password before asking Apple if that was a wise thing to do. They also should have investigated what a known-WiFi network for said iPhone was and create another backup. That data could have been captured from the WiFi before it was on iCloud and encrypted.

        3. I also think, and I REALLY WANT PEOPLE to chime in here, that using a new phone, using his credentials, Farooks’, or his employers’, may gain the info the Feds want. I have done this in the past, but have no idea if it’s still true, that without restoring from backup but simply entering my AppleID on a new or ‘clean’ iOS device will restore all my email (thank you IMAP), restores all my iMessages (safe for SMS; those only come back from a backup) and possibly restores all photos if iCloud Photo Lib was being used.

        4. I fully expect the Feds to also want phone records, Recents – all that, which I can understand. What I don’t get is the “Shoot first, ask for a passcode later” approach.

      • ninjadude99 - 8 years ago

        @PhilBoogie

        I can confirm that this will restore all of what you’ve mentioned (as I’ve actually had to do that with my phone a few weeks ago, and I used the option to restore via a backup).

        As for phone records, they can get that from the carrier themselves, since those would be there.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @Philboogie,
        Thanks for your inputs.
        Shooting the criminals, was (to my understanding) unavoidable? You cannot let these people bear guns and run rampant without some kind of tactical response.

        As for the phone and FBI themselves locking it, yes that is unfortunate and shows poor IT skills to have pulled that one off.
        I think they already, or at least Apple suggested already that they do a “clean install” with login on another phone to get emails.
        ninjadude99 – said you can just get the phone records off the carrier/ISP. That would make more sense.

        Personally, I don’t think theres any information on that phone thats absolutely vital.

        So we come back to the big picture, which is what about the future? The more encryption available, less hacking, which means terrorists have themselves a secured way of protecting their data. I’m not for that at all.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        I think the big picture is even bigger than what many think it is:

        1) The nomenclature ‘terrorist’ is usually wrong: they were never a terrorist until their first, and only terrorist act. These are crimes committed by people who have done nothing wrong, are part of our community, are our very own co-workers, our very own neighbours. Somewhere along the way something snapped, something went 180º, something went wrong in a horrible way, resulting in these terrible acts. Usually planned on dumb phones, not smartphones. If a phone was used at all. I really don’t think monitoring the 6.8B (97% penetration) mobile phones in the world will lead to any arrests. Arrests to what, exactly? What are people expecting from the monitoring of mobile phones? The prevention of anything? Get real: if people want to do harm they will do so, by whatever means. Read up on the Ted Kaczynski (unabomber), to name one.

        2) The people who commit terrorist acts usually die during or after the fact. What the agencies hope to find is pointers to other people planning an attack. They are wrong: these terrorist have a one track mind: to complete their mission. The next mission will be carried our by the next person wanting to do harm. The correlation they all have seem to stem from religion. Hard to fight religion. That’s like fuçking for virginity.

        3) Remembers EES? There are reasons why backdoors are not a good thing.

        4) 9/11? No encryption used, if my newspapers are ‘real journalistic newspapers’. They used Hotmail and the like. Yes, POP email, port 110. That should tell you enough. That should tell you there really is no need to create a way for law enforcement agencies to access peoples mobile devices without their approval. Because people planning a terrorist attack don’t use that anyway.

        Make no mistake: I am all for the prevention of attacks, of any kind. But to start with demanding a backdoor into iOS is, well, plain stupid. Here’s food for thought:

        3,400: Americans who died by Terrorism since 2001
        3,400: Americans who died by household Firearms since five weeks ago.

        Maybe we should vote for Hillary, and re-instate Clipper and Capstone chips¡

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      You should go and read the arguments Apple submitted to the court.

    • mytawalbeh - 8 years ago

      I bet you are one of those who just read a headline on Focks News, and you think that would bring back San Bernardino’s victims to life.
      It’s all about having a first step to access any data on any phone disregarding these “private, security”, or just what left of them in your life.
      If you still think that is not important, then it’s better to remove all pass codes from your devices (you know to make it easy to help the FBI, police, ..) and then you are completely idiot.

  5. 89p13 - 8 years ago

    “FBI director James Comey – who had previously claimed that “the San Bernardino litigation isn’t about trying to set a precedent” – has now admitted that it would. The Guardian reports that Comey made the admission when testifying under oath yesterday to a Congress committee.”

    I guess the liar is afraid of a Perjury or Contempt of Court citation.

    Deserves No Respect – IMO.

  6. It’s disappointing that so many support the FBI in this matter. I’m quite certain if those people truly understood the implications of such an endeavour, they would change their mind. Creating software that compromises the security of any iPhone, compromises the security of ALL iPhones. There is no such thing as, “just this one time”…

  7. thegamingart - 8 years ago

    It’s ridiculously sad to see false reports of support and naive supports. Hopefully people will have this situation explained to them in a manner that brings to light it’s importance… and why Apple is truly in the right while establishing a placeholder for policies to come in an era of technology (and our slow adopting government).

  8. Giovanni Cardona - 8 years ago

    Where are those 51%? Every time I enter a different forum (Apple related or not), there’s a massive support for Apple. Are they in the U.S.A.?

    • Ben Lovejoy - 8 years ago

      I suspect those interested enough to discuss it online are on Apple’s side, while those who know little to nothing about it side with the govt.

      • Giovanni Cardona - 8 years ago

        That makes sense.

      • 89p13 - 8 years ago

        Most Americans live by media “Sound Bytes” and the people who want to spin a situation to get that 10 to 15 seconds to be supported know exactly how to do it. That seems to be what has happened here: The FBI says “We need Apple’s help to stop terrorists killing innocent people and Apple says no, they won’t unlock this one phone.”

        The sheepels that Americans have become hear this – Have Absolutely No Interest To Learn The Situation as it will take them away from their TV or whatever they use to be entertained / pacified – and believe it. “Bad Apple / Good FBI, trying to protect innocent Americans. Pass the popcorn and get me another beer.”

        Sad that this is what America has become – This is what our forefathers fought and died to protect, the American Democracy and Way of Life.

        YMMV

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @ 89p13, “away from their TV”, surely you mean, in this day&age, “away from their phones”. Its the same thing almost.

    • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

      The link is in this very article. It points to here:
      http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/26/11118838/apple-fbi-iphone-poll-morning-consult

      Where just the headline alone states:
      “Most Americans still think Apple should comply with FBI orders, new poll shows”

      • Giovanni Cardona - 8 years ago

        Thanks Captain Obvious. It’s still doesn’t make sense. Are they really know what is at stake here? Anyways, Ben already had a more logical theory, thanks.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        Sorry for not immediately seeing it was obvious to you. Often there are people responding to articles which they haven’t read. If I came across as derogatory, this was not my intention. Mea culpa.

    • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

      Those who know little to nothing of anything always side with the government, it’s what they take advantage of.

  9. Umm, Apple’s brand is in every way, shape and form superior to the “United States of America” and these proceedings are proof positive. “USA” doesn’t stand for anything globally except destruction and deceit, whereas Apple has a stellar image to uphold.

  10. Apple will come out on top not because their position is moral or right, but because they’re on the side of the law. What the FBI is attempting to do is break or at the very least circumvent the law.

  11. Jake Becker - 8 years ago

    Actually it is Mr. Rubio, the government is not in fact superior to the private sector and to the market as a whole. Please enlighten us what the current government has accomplished VS what Apple has accomplished, in improving lives.

  12. André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

    Good, good! Let the FBI win and save lives. All their strenuous efforts are to save lives. Apple is guarding its profits. Theres a difference. Lets hope that the FBI prevails.

    • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

      I hope your comment was /s, I really do.
      Again, the government doesn’t give a damn if you’re dead or alive.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        Excuse me, the government has done more for people than any private company. It amazes me how people can be so blind. All Apple does it create phones and computers. Thats it. No more no less. Sure, they’ve donated a tiny amount towards charity, but don’t kid yourself, they’re very protective of their profits.

    • Greg Buser - 8 years ago

      You do realize that if Apple is forced to create a back door to it’s encryption, it won’t just be the FBI who will demand access? Every police agency on the planet will demand the same access and it will only be a matter of time before hackers will also figure out how to exploit it.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @Greg, Sure, let EVERY law enforcement agency have access. That will be even better. Seriously, not being sarcastic here.
        As for hackers, well, they’re trying to hack iPhones now already, so whats the difference?

      • HiroiSekai - 8 years ago

        @Andre Life must be so much easier when you don’t have to look at the big picture. Tell me, how is it?

        This case is the equivalence of making a copy of your own house key instead of making a master key that can easily open any house on the planet. It’s not a matter if the government might poke their nose in, it’s that the key exists to begin with. It shouldn’t exist. Its mere existence endangers everyone because it’s not something only the government can use.

        And before you say it, iPhones can easily unlock cars and house doors with smart technology now. So yes, the statement is most certainly relevant and current. If you truly are government’s #1 fan, give them your own access, by all means. Keep us general folk out of it.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        @ HiroiSekai, I like your key analogy. And if to use your metaphor, then law enforcement already has your “house key”, by getting a warrant and a locksmith. Why should the same not apply to phones? If law enforcement are allowed to search your house, your car, your purse, then why not your phone?

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      The iPhone stores the location data of people’s kids and family members. You do realize the backdoor will allow hackers a surefire way to get that data. Kidnap peoples kids, hold them for ransom, rape and murder them. This will END lives, not save them. And no, I’m not exaggerating here. This is 100% plausible. A hospital in California just got hacked, and they had to pay around 20 grand in bitcoin ransom to get their systems back under their control. As of right now, on iOS 9 — it can not be hacked, that we know of. This would end the reign of security at Apple.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        Are you absolutely crazy and delusional paranoid?!?!?!?
        Trust me, no-one is even slightly, remotely interested in your kids. Murdered and raped. C’mon, get a grip, really!
        If to use your logic:
        You could walk down the street tomorrow at 10am, find 2x lottery tickets, cross the street and get ridden over by a 1970 Nissan sedan driven by Jimmy Hoffa.
        You see your logic here? Taking things to extreme absurdities.
        If someone wanted to kidnap kids, they’d just go to a school and wait for the pupils to exit, no need to magically hack a phone for goodness sake!
        Hacking a hospital is something else entirely. Tell me, did the FBI hack the hospital? No, well, case proven.

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      I’m talking about people who have money and means — their kids go to private school, they live in gated communities. Most of the time, they are with someone and chauffeured around in limousines. You must not realize just how many people are kidnapped in the United States alone every single day — there’s over 700 child abductions per day. In other countries such as Mexico, the number is orders of magnitudes higher. Not to mention the iPhone also stores health data as well. Again, all of this as of right now on iOS9 is SECURE — there is no way to unlock a locked phone. Apple would be the first ones in the world to do this. If the FBI wants to do this, they should hire their own developers and do it themselves. I fail to see what’s stopping them from doing that, and I don’t see how they can be allowed to FORCE a private company to write software that does not exist.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        Sorry srgmac, I just don’t agree with you.
        I don’t see how health info on a phone is so vital for anyone else. Who cares how many miles you ran yesterday?
        Of the 700 child abductions every day, I wonder how many of these are from the one parent taking a child out early from kindergarten?
        My point being, you don’t need access to someones phone in order to kidnap anyone.

  13. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    Checked out the comment section on youtube videos.
    America seams to be divided on this problem, as always.

  14. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    @André Hedegaard
    Dude are you sirius right now?
    So I guess the government backing terrorists groups is “doing something good for the people” lol.
    I’m laughing so hard.
    Thanks for making my day.

  15. pretsky - 8 years ago

    No one bats an eye when the FBI hacks into computers – as long as they have a warrant.
    And no one would even be hearing about this if the FBI didn’t need Apples help hacking this phone.
    Frankly, if I worked for the FBI and top tech firms refused to help me hack into this phone I’d put out a $1 million dollar reward for anyone who provides the code to hack into this phone and then say to Tim Cook “Fk you kindly, sir. Now we can do it ourselves.”
    I think it’s in Apples best interest to cooperate – as long as there is a warrant.
    The double standard here with privacy concerns regarding phone privacy being hyped as Armageddon but no concern at all that the FBI can do the same thing with you PC is staggering and boils down to demagoguery.

    • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

      No one bats an eye when the FBI hacks into computers.
      Thats because most people don’t use a computer anymore.

      • Isitjustme - 8 years ago

        Do you understand what you had written I guess English is not your first language.

  16. John Smith - 8 years ago

    If Apple choose to push it all the way to the supreme court and then loose – yes it would set a precedent.

    If they had just assisted the FBI in accessing one phone, of one (dead) mass murderer – on court order – then it would not.

    Apple choosing to escalate this case – almost certainly as a marketing ploy.

    • 89p13 - 8 years ago

      John Smith postings are like Phish concerts: Endless riffing on familiar tunes.

  17. I love how the Republicans are all for sacrificing security and liberty when it comes to demanding Apple to unlock the iPhone. “Implement backdoor software! It will stop terrorism.”

    Funny how the same Republicans don’t have the same sentiment when it comes to implementing stricter gun control policies. “Implement gun safety measures? It won’t stop terrorism.”

  18. jonnyr23 - 8 years ago

    I think it is pretty important to note that this guy, Carney, who wants the right to snoop on everything also has this on his track record. https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/fbi-director-james-comey-who-signed-off-on-waterboarding-is-now-losing-sleep-over-an-iphone/

  19. Joseph Frye - 8 years ago

    If only the US government cared about protecting citizen rights as much as Apple does…

  20. jerjuan (@jerjuan) - 8 years ago

    Just another indicator that as Americans we live in a society of idiots. smh. Hopefully someone with some sense on Capitol Hill will decide to protect our civil liberties.

  21. Thomas Marble Peak - 8 years ago

    Thank you Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others!! #StandWithApple

    If you too would like to stand with Apple’s stance on privacy, then add your name to the petition https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/apple-privacy-petition

  22. Don Wise (@doncwise) - 8 years ago

    FBI is now backpedaling on their original comments; good.

    Republicans candidates continue to side with the FBI; well then, they should have no problem in being first to have their phones unlocked with whatever tool Apple is forced to build (however so unlikely) and all of their content can then be examined without any exclusions or reservations.

    If I were Tim Cook I’d welcome this challenge and ask that the Republicans and the FBI be the first in line to see how they would feel to have their phones confiscated and data examined for any wrongdoing. You know, just because. I’d bet the general public would be very interested to know what kind of “networks” they belong to…and what kind of background dialog transpires to keep government moving.

    Yes, I realize that the Republican candidates have not been convicted or suspected of any criminal wrongdoings (well not yet) but if you’re the first to standup and say “please go ahead and take someone else’s phone” then any one of the Republican candidates shouldn’t have any reservations about having their own device(s) examined in return. Turnabout is fair play.

    • frostie4flakes - 8 years ago

      This is not a political issue. It is the Obama DOJ that is over reaching and both DEMOCRATS and Republicans are making ill informed comments. Forget party politics and let’s look at our Constitutional Civil Rights that need for protection. Don’t puke on the real issues here and obscure what a great many people, regardless of any political party affiliation, are supporting-our right to be free from intrusion by government into our lives more than we have. The issue is a really clear if you think about it. Ok, so no we have a back door today, tomorrow we have a new App that produces security circumventing any “backdoor,” but now my medical and banking information has been exposed by this foolish push by the FBI. How good a job has the government done in securing very sensitive information for many Americans? This is an issue of personal safety and security as well where no LOUD argument has been made as to what happens if terrorists can use any backdoor to target specific Americans for harm.

  23. frostie4flakes - 8 years ago

    FBI big media showdown w/Apple is clearly a FBI media stunt to force precedent for law enforcement. Their arguments against Apple are clearly odd, given the very unlikely possibility of any useful information being on the iPhone 5c. Apple is right to stand up for very secure devices against the US government over reach, BUT the reality is that Apple has caved with respect to China as is being reported by the LA Times and elsewhere. I also have concerns about safety of source code given the iPhone manufacture at Foxconn in China. Encourage, demand secure privacy protected phones, but also Apple needs to inform us that if we were to use out iPhones in China are we exposed in that environment? We want our Constitution upheld, but we also want transparency from Tim Cook and Apple with respect to the use of iPhone around the world considering security exposure we may have. What compromises may be introduced based on Apple relationships with carriers and countries when these may have been made to do business around the world? I’m supporting the arguments put forth by Apple’s attorneys, but given trouble in China and increasing militarism and new constraints being placed on freedom there there are growing concerns. PLEASE COME CLEAN WITH US APPLE!

  24. kevinhancox - 8 years ago

    “There are no demons here,” said Comey, striking a more conciliatory tone than that of the Justice Department’s accusation in court last week that Apple was placing “marketing” over security.

    That is simply not true, they are placing security over marketing, with the public backing the FBI marketing would say DO IT, security however is the heart of OSX and they are fighting to keep the security of the people that bought into previous marketing…!

    Security is at the heart of it… OURS…! For our information…!!!

  25. Mark Fuller (@kcwookie) - 8 years ago

    Wow, what can I say, stupid people and republicans are in agreement…

  26. “…public…still on FBI side”. Not this member of the public.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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