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Steve Wozniak says the FBI “picked the lamest case you ever could” [Video]

Appearing on Conan last night, Woz said that he sided with Apple in the FBI fight, first because he’s always been strong on human rights, as one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but because governments shouldn’t be able to tell manufacturers to make their products insecure at a time when security is so important.

He argued that there is absolutely no reason to think the FBI would learn anything from the iPhone in question.

They picked a lame case. They picked the lamest case you ever could […]

[For the shooters’ own phones] Verizon turned over all the phone records, all the SMS messages. So they want to take this other phone, that the two didn’t destroy, which was a work phone, and it’s so lame and worthless to expect something’s on it and get Apple to expose it.

Revealing that he had once written something that could have acted as a Macintosh virus, he said he’d thrown away every line of code because he was so scared of what might happen if the code got out …

He echoed two of Apple’s arguments at the Congressional hearing: that there is always the risk that the code will get into the wrong hands once it exists, and that other governments would also expect access to it.

Once you create it, there’s a good chance hackers will get into it – and what if China says ‘Apple, you’ve got to give us a backdoor so we can get into any phone, even [those belonging to] your government officials.’

Conan said he was convinced by Woz’s arguments.

You can watch the video clip below.

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Comments

  1. PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

    I think it’s a good thing this gets repeated in the media, over and over. People really need to understand why Apple is taking this stance.

  2. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    I can only hope that the TV media picks up on this – almost all the network news coverage that I’ve see has seemed to be pro-FBI slanted. We need some really good and trusted people to come out on Apple’s side and present a more balanced and long term. world view of the dangers in granting this motion to the FBI.

  3. Ashish Asawa - 9 years ago

    Hi, there is a problem with your web page when I am viewing in safari, a video ad shows up, and I can not mute it, or stop it. Please stop it else, I have no choice but to unsubscribe your website.

    • Doug Aalseth - 9 years ago

      I’m on Safari as well and am not having any problems. Of course I’m also running the AdBlock extension.

    • Ben Lovejoy - 9 years ago

      Thanks for letting us know, Ashish. We don’t directly control ads, Google does, and different people see different ads – could you email a screen grab to the Tips address so we can investigate? Thanks!

  4. John Smith - 9 years ago

    This is the ‘lamest’ rebuttal I ever heard.

    Service provider gave call and SMS records? Has this guy never heard of messaging apps – encrypted, operating via cellular data ?

    Once again we get the ‘virus spreading’ nonsense. How can an amended version of IOS – just the same as norma lOS but 10 error wipe/delayed PIN entry removed – spread from phone to phone or across the net like a virus ? What BS.

    Apple is protecting the privacy of a (dead) killer in the investigation of 14 homicides which involves a phone which is not even the property of the dead guy – it’s property of San Bernadino County.

    The lame part of this is that a greedy corporation would be doing that in order to bolster it’s sales and massive profits.

    • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

      You know what’s even more lame? Posting about a topic you seem to have completely failed to understand, on so many levels.

      1. I think Steve Wozniak fully knows what encryption is. Which, BTW, on an iPhone isn’t encrypted over cellular, only encrypted over an Internet connection over cellular, not the spare cellular band of the phone baseband.
      2. You’re missing his, or rather ‘the’ point: he means that if Apple is ordered to write an altered version of iOS and be handed over to the FBI it could be copied and ‘spread like a virus’, meaning it could fall into the wrong hands, it could be downloaded by people at the other side the world within seconds. Not just from a malicious employee at the FBI, it could happen to an Apple employee.
      3. Apple isn’t protection the privacy of a dead person (Mr. Farook), Apple is protecting you, me, anyone in the world. They don’t necessarily need to be ‘an iOS user’, they need to stand up for the same reason Apple is standing up for: your privacy. Your safe being. The safe being of anyone, may they be Apple users or not. They are saying the FBI shouldn’t compromise, oh what the heck, let me leave you with 3 TopTips:

      1. Read an article online.
      2. Understand what is being said, fully grasp the ramifications of said acts.
      3. Post your opinion

    • Thomas Boles - 9 years ago

      You have it wrong. They destroyed 2 phones, which Verizon then released the call and sms records to. Yes they have messaging apps, but if the phone was destroyed there is nothing you can do. What the FBI has is their work phone, a phone they did not destroy. Why would someone go through the trouble of destroying 2 phones and leave one that had something on it?

      And if they made a backdoor, it couldn’t be spread from phone to phone, but his point is valid. He is saying that once it is created and distributed it is out there forever. There is no undoing it. And there is nothing stoping a hacker, or another government from getting that software as well. This would give anyone the ability to get into anyones iPhone.

      And it doesn’t stop their. If the government gets a backdoor to iOS, what stops them from getting a backdoor to OSX, Android, Windows, and any other operating system. This would essentially make any technology you use today insecure and unless for online banking, mobile payments, online stock trading, and really anything that needs to be secure will no longer be secure.

      And lets all be honest, is it really going to help us if we open that phone and probably find nothing, but find out that isis was linked to the attack? What is that really going to change?

    • Brandon Stiefel - 9 years ago

      I love it when people who have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about speak as though they are experts. Well done, John Smith.

      • 89p13 - 9 years ago

        But – At Least He Is CONSISTENT!

        John Smith – Probably employed by Govt. / FBI

      • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

        Consistency is great, unless you’re consistently bad. This is bad.

    • focher - 9 years ago

      If the county had been interested in retaining control of the phone, they should have had MDM enabled on it. That would have allowed them to unlock the phone and wouldn’t require Apple to write custom code. Exactly where does the government get the authority to force people to write software code?

  5. I want a t-shirt with the Silicon Valley Comic Con logo like what Steve is wearing!

  6. Thomas Marble Peak - 9 years ago

    Encourage all companies to improve security and not create back-doors and/or weaken security efforts. If the FBI is able to set a precedent, the “bell” will have been rung. Make your voice be heard on this issue.

    Also, please join me in signing the White House petition at http://1.usa.gov/1R9A4cM

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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