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All aboard the hyperbole train: Manhattan district attorney says iPhone security helps terrorists

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Van

We’ve heard some pretty outrageous ramblings from the government regarding Apple’s use of encryption in its mobile devices in the past—including a claim from the Department of Justice that some day it will result in the death of a child—but Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. might have just dethroned the DOJ as king of hyperbole.

Yesterday morning during a radio interview, Vance claimed that Apple’s encrypted software will make the iPhone the communication tool of choice for terrorists:

“Apple has created a phone that is dark, that cannot be accessed by law enforcement even when a court has authorized us to look at its contents,” Vance warned on “The Cats Roundtable” show on WNYM/970 AM.

“That’s going to be the terrorists’ communication device of choice.”

Vance has a history of anti-encryption fear-mongering, though his previous statements haven’t been quite as inflammatory as yesterday’s.

It’s not a big secret that the government would like every opportunity possible to snoop into your email and text messages. From the revelation that “Big Brother” had backdoor access to mobile devices through its PRISM program to attempts by Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI director James Comey to convince (or use legal leverage to force) Apple and other tech companies to decrypt their mobile devices.

The issue isn’t constrained to the United States government, either. British prime minister David Cameron has previously voiced support for banning encrypted communication altogether—a sentiment with which the White House later said it agreed.

Apple first started encrypting all data on its iPhones with the release of iOS 7. Google followed suit with the announcement of full-disk encryption on its Android Lollipop operating system, though a later change allowed some phones to ignore that default setting.

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Comments

  1. BG (@brengla) - 9 years ago

    A back door for the government means a back door for hackers and thieves.

    • You’re almost there, keep trying. The best tactic seems to be: “a backdoor for the government means a backdoor for the terrorists! One day a child is going to die if we leave these backdoors open!”

    • Whether its iPhone or blackberry, mac or pc, I never believe my devices are secure, because the governments don’t protect them enough, the governments know how to get information and they are the ones who look for loop holes, (metadata) people that is the biggest cover up, all governments do is track this and then they will know. If you think your secure using a vpn or an encrypted device, your going to be watched more and it will be possible to find out who did what… Security is bull because the governments who want encryption banned are talking sense, the only nonsense is we don’t trust the governments who give their life to try protect us. Trust is earned and it was lost from events that have happened, in my opinion governments need to earn our trust so we can abandon encryption together.

  2. Rick Alexander - 9 years ago

    Typical lawyer BS. When the people of this country realize that attorneys are nothing but crooks….justice will be served.

  3. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    Spread that FUD . . . .

    (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt)

    What a total load of Crappola FUD!

  4. Neil Quinn (@neilq5) - 9 years ago

    And yet if the government weren’t constantly talking about how secure the security of iMessage is, terrorists probably wouldn’t know that is the case

  5. hiddendwarf - 9 years ago

    Of course it does, why do you think I have an iPhone ?

  6. PMZanetti - 9 years ago

    It takes criticizing Apple products to get certain people to see behind the curtain with government outrages.

    The US government (and more around the world, increasingly) DO NOT care about the safety and security of citizens…they care about what they want, and nothing more. Encrypted communication gets in their way. They can’t build a database of all electronic communication if most of it is encrypted.

    I’m also stunned to realize that there are still people out there who believe “if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t care”. They must be unaware of how easy it is to frame, blackmail, and otherwise invent non-existent criminality amongst citizens when the government has access to all of your data, all of your comm. Don’t think the government frames innocent people for crimes? Think again.

  7. iJonni - 9 years ago

    If they hadn’t been caught with their pants down, I’m sure some of these tech companies would have complied and given a master key. But now we know they cannot be trusted to “only use this in case of national security ” To quote Ed Snowden and John Oliver, shut down the dick pics program please.

  8. philboogie - 9 years ago

    For a stupid person, Mr. Vance sure says dumb things.

  9. lkrupp215 - 9 years ago

    Well if the government can’t break into an iPhone that will make it MY device of choice too.

    • g0bez - 9 years ago

      you must be a terrorist!!!!! NSA NSA NSA — DINGDINGDINGDINGDING — NSA! I FOUND ONE!!!!!!!

  10. Or does it thwart terrorists, preventing them from hijacking and snooping on important government communications from personnel using iOS products?

  11. sewollef - 9 years ago

    Hmm… if it’s as secure as Mr Stupid Vance claims, how come the government won’t let the President use an iPhone?

  12. Iven Tenz (@ivenalot) - 9 years ago

    Then I may ask him, where the highly classified statistic of classified numbers of classified attacks are that our intelligence service has secretly prevented, because they are so secret, that they better remain secretly. But if Apple is doing it, it’s not okay?

  13. Typical excuse for ineptness. How about controlling who comes into the country, who buy weapons, and other ways to identify terrorists? Eavesdropping into phone conversations is not going to solve the real problem.

  14. o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

    If we lose our sense of privacy and security, the terrorists win. In fact, the government becomes a terror group when everyone is fearful for their own privacy, due to government watchdogs overseeing all of the public’s information. You know who we should be watching? Politicians, and all of Congress. That would make the country a hell of a lot better, if we knew the lies, manipulations, and scandals (not the sex scandals, but the ones that actually matter) that go on. Good job idiotic say whatever you want to benefit your own interests, attorney (aka virtually every attorney or politician).

    I hope Apple keeps it locked down and continues to make these morons feel stupid and powerless.

  15. Toro Volt (@torovolt) - 9 years ago

    If I was a terrorist trying to pass under the radar I would go “DarkMatter” ROM with the supported Android phones or Blackberry.
    There is a reason why Obama still uses a Blackberry, the security features continue to be the best.

  16. luckydcxx - 9 years ago

    OR maybe iPhones aren’t secure at all and he is using reverse psychology to get the terrorists to use an iPhone.

  17. And the Feds CREATE them. How about we worry about that part first.

  18. applesmith76 - 9 years ago

    Don’t give up your privacy for security. It’s a mistake.

    How many terrorists are operating in a given country versus the number of citizens that would have their right violated by unsolicited data collection?

    Oh wait, we’ve already been down this road. The data has already been collected. Now we just have to stop them from collecting it indefinitely. Section 215 of the Patriot Act needs to be amended.

  19. oogenhand - 9 years ago

    As always…

  20. The 4th Amendment. Inspired by the original terrorists: Tyrannical Governments.

  21. Chris Sanders - 9 years ago

    We need to fire all these people and replace them. They think the constitution is a joke.

  22. madmen8 - 9 years ago

    My backdoor is burning.

    When will we see the order status on our watches update?!

    • madmen8 - 9 years ago

      PS. As a middle eastern American. born here as the first generation in my family to be American by birth, but both parents from overseas; I can assure you, I get random searched, stopped, double checked, bumped into and even followed to bathrooms often enough that I can almost guarantee that taping into my iPhone would just be over kill. They can reach out and touch us at work, at home, in public. So checking our Dick Pix maybe be going too far.

  23. bubffm - 9 years ago

    what a complete jerk

  24. inthepattern - 9 years ago

    Soon, they’ll be calling us terrorists for using iPhones. I have a Caucasian background, married, heterosexual, have kids, fall into the top 5% income earners, fly my own airplane, own a business, carry a gun and use an iPhone. How else can I piss you off today?

  25. Ignacio Melo - 9 years ago

    “Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” – Benjamin Franklin

  26. myke2241 - 9 years ago

    They did this to themselves. if the government wasn’t so evasive with its current NSA programs then maybe companies like Apple would have given legal access when warranted. instead we having mass surveillance covered in lies and deception which make it hard for other countries to trust the produced by said companies….

  27. absarokasheriff - 9 years ago

    Finally, non-racial profiling. If I have an iPhone I must be a terrorist. Body cavity search for all iPhone holders.

  28. The backdoor would be used by terrorists as well…
    What a moron that Cyrus guy.

  29. Leif Paul Ashley - 9 years ago

    What a monumental retarded. I say I’ll open my phone up for them when they open up all the government files to me.

  30. alfredprunesquallor - 9 years ago

    Who made the Manhattan District Attorney head of Homeland Security? Sometimes, NYC needs to get over itself.

  31. He probably also thinks that the door locks on your house helps thieves?

  32. Except every couple months it seems like we hear about some new iOS security threat. I seriously doubt the NSA et al. are lacking for ways to hack our data if they really want to. Go get a clue, Big Brother.

  33. vampyren - 9 years ago

    I bet he want to take a sneak peak at his mistress but cant! Please stop spreading the nonsense from stupid people.