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DOJ filing threatens to compel Apple to hand over iOS source code and signature if it fails to cooperate

passcode

ACLU principal technologist and Yale Law School visiting fellow Christopher Soghoian drew attention to a rather dramatic raising of the stakes in the DOJ’s latest filing in the San Bernardino iPhone case. It contains an implicit threat that if Apple isn’t willing to create the special version of iOS needed to break the passcode protection, the government could force the company to hand over both the source code and signature so that its own coders could do it instead.

For the reasons discussed above, the FBI cannot itself modify the software on Farook’s iPhone without access to the source code and Apple’s private electronic signature. The government did not seek to compel Apple to turn those over because it believed such a request would be less palatable to Apple. If Apple would prefer that
course, however, that may provide an alternative that requires less labor by Apple programmers.

It then goes on to cite a case it believes provides a precedent for this …

The clause is the very epitome of a ‘steel fist in a velvet glove,’ gently worded to suggest that the government is willing to save Apple time and trouble while actually warning the company that things could get very much worse for it if it fails to cooperate.

Both sides now appear to be playing hardball, in both the legal battle itself and in the rhetoric. The DOJ yesterday accused Apple of being “corrosive and false” and Apple responded by saying that the government is “so desperate at this point that it has thrown all decorum to the wind.”

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Comments

  1. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 8 years ago

    What are they going to do with the source code? They’ll still have a locked smartphone without the passcode. Do they think they are just going to boot it from external storage and hack into it that way?

    • imas145 - 8 years ago

      They’d just do what Apple is currently ordered to do. They review the source code, modify it accordingly and then using Apple’s signature gained through this alternative order they sign it and load it onto the phone. Then with the security features out of the way, they can brute-force the password.

      This would be way more dangerous and powerful tool, as they could load any software onto to any iPhone in their possession, and they could also easily leak this information to bad actors who could then do the same.

      • sp3ctre - 8 years ago

        Lol, sure Ben Affleck has better things to do ;)

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      You boot into DFU mode and load an OS into a RAM Disk — this can be done on any locked iPhone, DFU mode provides this capability.

      • Robert Wilson - 8 years ago

        Which also erases the data on the device. Hince the reason after you do a DFU recovery you need to restore from your backup if you want everything back.

  2. iSRS - 8 years ago

    Who thinks this is acceptable behavior? Isn’t this exactly opposite of what our beliefs as a country are? We do not live in a country where the government is allowed to take whatever it wants whenever it wants without due process

    • tinman8443 - 8 years ago

      While I agree with what you’re saying completely, I think we are observing the due process part right now.

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        Yes, ultimately, that is what we are seeing. Just very publicly. Which really shouldn’t have been the case. However, the FBI is really starting to overplay its hand, this can’t, Constitutionally, hold up in court. Contrary to what some may believe, we are not a socialist country.

    • cjt3007 - 8 years ago

      something something eminent domain something something

      • Eminent Domain would require the government to pay Apple for it. What would the value of OS X be? Just add to the debt….

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        Not only would there need to be just compensation, there are strict rules that enforce when the Government can and can not apply Eminent Domain, and there is a lengthy process involved to justify the use.

      • Bryan Conn (@4bryan) - 8 years ago

        Eminent domain is for taking something that can’t be used by anyone else. As far as the government is concerned, this is intellectual property and it certainly will not be compensated. Apple is free to continue using it, and of course, Apple would immediately release a new version of iOS with a bunch of engineering tweaks to try and eliminate what the FBI gained from receive the earlier source code. And the FBI would go after the new source code and every version of source code.

        If I was Apple, I’d make plans to re-incorporate in Barbados or somewhere not so fascists. Someone said we’re not socialists – well this is fascism. Socialism is taking property for state control of wealth and income. The FBI won’t be making iPhones, it just wants the government to have total information awareness of its citizenry and that’s fascism.

      • trinities - 8 years ago

        @4bryan It´s their job after all.

    • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

      unfortunately, America is founded on stealing other’s posessions. Columbus stole land from the original inhabitants, and most of the current inhabitants are the descendants of people who had their property stolen by the British. The USA is not afraid to breach the rights of anyone, and guantanamo, the extremely racist prison sentencing guidelines that place a black person in prison for life for stealing a $100 jacket, amongst many other factors, all prove this.

      People who think they are in a democracy are blind to the fact that you either obey the American Government or you are labelled an enemy of the state. That’s not democracy, it is communism. If you want democracy, go to Switzerland/Liechtenstein, where ALL seats of power are given a public vote, and any changes to the law must also go through the same polling system – not a system where the government freely changes what they want to suit their end goals.

      • sewollef - 8 years ago

        @realgurahamu:

        Couple of points of historical clarification for you…

        1.) Columbus never set foot on what was to become the United States. He made it only as far as Hispaniola (or the West Indies to you).

        2.) The ‘current inhabitants’ descendants didn’t have anything stolen from them by the British… since they WERE British colonists themselves.

        Oh and by the way, Liechtenstein? Really? That’s your example of a democracy?
        Liechtenstein, although nominally a ‘country’ is in fact a German-speaking principality, dominated by the Roman Catholic church. It has a unitary parliament [just like the UK], with a constitutional monarch [again, just like the UK]… and best of all this “country” has a population half the size of the East Village in NYC [as in 37,000].

        It has the lowest business taxes in Europe and follows a laissez-faire form of capitalism [as in, anything goes]. It’s one of the few places in the world with more registered corporations than citizens. It has over 74,000 ‘letter-box’ companies registered there, and generates a substantial proportion of its income from ‘Stiftungen’ or so-called foundations that hide the true identities of its owners financial assets.

        In other words, it’s a tax haven for the vultures of capitalism.

        Not really a seriously valid argument of democracy now is it?

      • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

        @sewollef your research has failed you it seems.

        Liechtenstein, yes does have a parliament, however the Prince, unlike the UK, does have absolute power. The parliament can do whatever they like providing a vote has been passed, and even then, the Prince has the power to override the decision. Remind me how this is like the UK, where the Queen cannot even force the press to apologise after lying so obviously, or impose fines, or go to war, or actually do anything other than wave at the people below her window and rake in the taxes.

        Just 3 years ago, Liechtenstein held a referendum as to whether the Prince should keep this absolute power – a referendum actually initiated by the Prince himself. the majority of the population chose to leave that power with him. You need to find a dictionary and find out what a constitutional monarch actually is.

        Dominated by the Roman Catholic church? Again research has brought you short. While Roman Catholic is the main religion of the country, many live religion free, and diversity in the country is huge, with people from every culture living there. Residents are not forced to be of a single religion.

        Hiding owners true assets, again wrong. After the Swiss Bank scandals, Liechtenstein immediately changed it’s policies so that anybody committing tax fraud will not be protected in the event of a subpoena. The majority of the country’s income actually comes from this massive amount of businesses within the country in addition to the high value of the currency and tourism. It is not often you find a household that doesn’t have a business underneath it. Businesses which are most common include Architecture (new buildings are always being built and old ones knocked down), highway maintenance (roads are always being renewed – you never see a road full of potholes in this country), IT, Hairdressers and other services and manufacturing businesses (such as Hilti and Swarovski, and also Ivoclar Vivadent who makes invisalign braces that are used across the entire world). A visitor to the country can easily expect to bring at least a thousand Swiss Francs for spending, because nothing here is cheap (in fact Liechtenstein makes California look cheap in comparison) – and tourism is very much alive, especially within the Capital, Vaduz.

        Another way in which Liechtenstein flourishes is because they don’t hand out state support for the unemployed for free: when a job is found, the money received has to be paid back. University fees have to be paid back, there is no free healthcare – everybody is required to have private medical insurance.

        Did you really think you could teach me about Liechtenstein when it is clear you researched articles over 10 years old and I actually live here?

        As for America, are you really so dumb you believe that all Americans are descendants of the British? Spain controlled parts of America before Britain colonix

  3. sewollef - 8 years ago

    Obviously this would be an unprecedented step from the DoJ…. and one fraught with legal and constitutional issues. I’m not sure what the FBI and DoJ are hoping to achieve here [other than the obvious point of forcing a company to create passcode-breaking software to its own code].

    It should be noted that Apple had been helping the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in many other previous cases where access to data was required from a suspect’s iphone. But all of that cooperation was done [and continues to be done] in private, not in a public forum. That changed with this case. Now, this disagreement is being conducted in public, in the tabloid media, where hysterical commentary is the norm, and there is a ‘terrorist around every corner’.

    All this despite the circumstantial [and actual] evidence that the shooters destroyed their personal phones [where likely useful information might be had] before being killed, and this iPhone remember, was a government-owned device.

    I understand the FBI wanting to leave no stone unturned but even the most basic logic suggests there is nothing on the phone that hasn’t already been accessed. Some posters on here have suggested that Apple has ‘deliberately gone out of its way to thwart law enforcement’ by improving the security on iPhones. That is such a crazy, nonsensical and immature suggestion that doesn’t really deserve a response.

    It’s hard to have a sensible, grown-up discussion about the ramifications of this case when childish posters make obviously false and immature accusations.

    • Smigit - 8 years ago

      “I understand the FBI wanting to leave no stone unturned but even the most basic logic suggests there is nothing on the phone that hasn’t already been accessed.”

      I doubt too many people at the FBI care whats on the phone at all. They’re using the fact that terrorism resonates with the media and public to set a precedence that they can use on future cases. It’s telling that so many other cases were handled rather discretely but the FBI chose to escalate this one to the public domain. The FBI have long wanted access to encrypted phones and this case gives them some of the best leverage they’ve had so far to pursue it.

  4. rnc - 8 years ago

    Apple, put the signing key outside America.

  5. boycottappleamerica - 8 years ago

    It’s a new world folks and people need to get their heads out of their butts. FBI has a job to do to protect American citizens. They are doing their job and whether you like it or not, agree with it or not, we give up our right to privacy in countless ways every day, from store cameras to having our conversations recorded when calling the bank. Everyone knows…yes, everyone knows that there is a price we all must pay to live in the world we live in and we need to make these compromises in order to move forward. Tim Cook is a fraud, almost as good of a fraud as Donald Trump. His one and only interest is in selling more Apple product…he could care less about your or my privacy…and I would be willing to bet, he and Apple probably have invaded more peoples’ privacy than any other tech company. He belongs in jail…and if, somehow, the FBI is able to capture the info and it points to any event past or future that could have been prevented had Apple been more helpful, then Cook should be charged for treason and Apple crushed. Who the hell does he think he is? I say: http://www.SecurityTrumpsPrivacy.com and call upon anyone who hasn’t drank the Apple Kool-Aid to http://www.Boycott-Apple.com

    • tincan2012 - 8 years ago

      “It’s a new world folks and people need to get their heads out of their butts. FBI has a job to do to protect American citizens.”

      Excellent.. now line up and let’s see your papers..

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      Walking by a security camera ≠ opening my phone to potential malicious hackers.

    • imas145 - 8 years ago

      Trying to convince you why encryption matters and should not be weakened seems like a waste of words, but I’ll point one thing out for you: encryption will always be available. Encryption is not a magical box that can be locked up, it’s mathematics. If Apple is forced to weaken the security by creating govtOS, or worse, if strong encryption is banned altogether in the USA or some states, anyone can still access encryption applications made outside the USA. There will always be apps available made outside the USA that allow secure communications and encrypt data. And even if all this was somehow banned, people with sufficient skills can just create an application of their own to encrypt data using known algorithms, which are just mathematics. This will jeopardize majority of the people but still allow bad actors to make themselves invisible and “go dark”.

      • sewollef - 8 years ago

        @imas145:

        Agreed. It was suggested recently that if it comes to it and the Supremes force Apple to build this back door. Apple’s iteration of iOS following that judgment could be completely and totally encryption-free.

        But given their commitment to security with their products, will allow third-party total device encryption software on the app store. That is pretty much the case now. For example: if you want totally secure messaging: try Signal; for browsing the mobile web: Tor Onion; for file sharing: Hightail; Cloud services: Sophos Secure Workspace, and on and on. For every one in those categories there are dozens of apps and options. And you can bet your life savings that third parties everywhere will be falling over themselves to produce the equivalent of a ‘device-wipe’ application.

        In addition, you can create an even longer passcode that’ll make it all but impossible to crack (yes I said, ALL BUT impossible). Assuming you’re the FBI and you’ve defeated the ‘device wipe after 10 tries’ problem, that Apple built into iOS, you STILL have to crack the passcode. A 6-digit pass would take at most 22 hours to crack. For a computer, that’s nothing, but increase that to say an 11-digit passcode…. and it’d take on average 127 YEARS to crack.

        In other words, effectively impossible.

        Initially, that will be my short-term solution, should the SC decide against Apple [….and the constitution].

      • Smigit - 8 years ago

        Thats just it. If they make iOS insecure, that doesn’t stop secure communications from taking place over the OS still. I mean, only recently have OS encrypted a hard disk by default but that didn’t stop you running something like TrueCrypt or whatever to encrypt something on that unencrypted system drive. This is all an exercise in futility…as long as side loading applications is an option on one or more mobile platforms then the FBI will not and can not win this war as the software will come from elsewhere where encryption is encouraged.

    • Brett O'Donnell - 8 years ago

      Another dumbass who has failed to see what is really at stake here. This isn’t about protecting the privacy of a dead gunman, if there was a way to provide the FBI with the information they want without putting every Apple customer’s privacy and more importantly security at risk they would have already done it.

      • Aunty T (@AuntyTroll) - 8 years ago

        Your comment gives away your true feelings. It has NOTHING to do with the security of the American people and EVERYTHING to do with you as an Apple fan. If the phone was made by Samsung, LG, Blackberry or any other manufacturer you would be clamouring for the phone to be hacked so that it could spill its possible secrets, and if those companies didn’t then you would be wanting the American government to come down hard FOR THE SAFETY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

        Hypocrisy – it’s a beautiful thing when fanboys are involved isn’t it?

      • Brett O'Donnell - 8 years ago

        What? You have a lot of nerve calling me a hypocrite when you know absolutely nothing about me and what I stand for. Clearly from your name you’re a Troll so I really shouldn’t be feeding you anything since you demented trolls get some kind of sick pleasure out of poking the hornets nest, but unfortunately you struck a nerve so I’m going to rant anyway… This has nothing to do with being an Apple fan or not. If it was Samsung, Google, Blackberry, Microsoft or whoever else my views would be the same and I would hope those companies would stand up to the FBI in protecting their customer’s security. You people still fail to understand that if this hack makes it into the wild (and you are very niave if you think the FBI isn’t trying to set precedent here and this security compromised OS will only be used just this once… and once made governments all over the world won’t be demanding a copy of it too) it will compromise the security of people all over the world. People don’t just use their cell phones for text messages and photos anymore, people have information on their cell phones that hackers and criminals would love to get their hands on like banking and financial information, confidential business information and trade secrets, our location (or our children’s) at any given time and the list goes on. Repressive regimes will use it to track and “deal with” political dissidents. Meanwhile criminals will use other means to keep their information from law enforcement (like 3rd party encryption software, also keep in mind that the “terrorists” in this case destroyed their personal cell phones which likely did contain valuable evidence and there is almost zero chance that this work phone contains anything of value). We will have compromised our own security and gained absolutely NOTHING for it. Have yourself a nice day!

    • Brandon Stiefel - 8 years ago

      Oh STFU and go kill yourself with a spoon. Troll.

      • Aunty T (@AuntyTroll) - 8 years ago

        Calm yourself down Brandon. Calling someone a troll and telling them to kill themselves because they have a different opinion to you isn’t big nor clever.

    • For the umpteenth time, it’s not about the government spying on us. It’s about a weaker version of iOS out in the wild so Harry Hacker can run off with your f*cking ID. You better believe if there’s a rash of stolen IDs from this mess the banks are gonna go ballistic.

    • JBDragon - 8 years ago

      If the FBI was doing their job, the Terrorists won’t have been let into this country with the crap Security check that was done! To lazy to even check their Social Media which if they did, would have never been allowed here in the first place!

      Looking at Data on a phone from DEAD terrorists is doing nothing! It didn’t stop it in the first place. In fact looking at a phone after the fact doesn’t really do a whole lot of anything. The only real way to stop terrorists is to be spying on everyone!!! That means nice big back doors to spy on whoever they want at any time. Of course you rate people on a scale of priority on who to look at more closely. After the fact really doesn’t do anything. The people at that point are dead!

      This is really what the government wants. Take your rights and privacy away all in the name of Terrorists, at least for now. Then later it’s Drug dealers, and on down the list. Until at some point it’s your political views!!! This is what happens with a ever growing government that takes the people’s rights away. Here in this case, people freely letting it happen. At some people when it’s a right you care about, it’ll be to late.

    • Smigit - 8 years ago

      Tim Cook guilty of treason? Apple is a publicly traded company. You may as well throw all the other employees and shareholders in jail at the same time for aiding Tim Cook and allowing him to continue to run the company.

    • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

      you really are a stupid kid aren’t you. The FBI and DoJ are NOT there to protect Americans. They are there as a control mechanism to keep the citizens in line with the communist views of the state. Do as we say or you’re an enemy of the state and since all the newspapers are in our pockets, we will make everyone else including your family believe so too.
      While you want to post links to stupid hater websites, I could also point out a few facts to you.
      1) Apple already have all the data from the phone from the iCloud backups they hacked into already.
      2) If you had been keeping up with the neutral coverage of the subject, many, including the founder of McAfee, Edward Snowden and many others have all pointed out that the FBI and DoJ are speaking a load of BS in their legal papers. They have means to gain access to the phone, but this isn’t about just the one phone – it’s about expanding PRISM. Gone will be the days when all the DoJ has on you is metadata of your phone calls. They will have access to your social media accounts, email accounts, bank accounts, computers, phones, messages and pretty much everything that uses a data connection.
      3) Giving our right to privacy when calling the bank – you really think that is a breach of privacy? Clearly you have never studied business, including the safeguards that are in place to keep this information tight. And clearly you have no idea that these “recorded calls” are also for your own benefit in case you have a dispute that requires evidence from calls made.
      4) Store cameras invading privacy? yeah, because the store owner works for 10 hours a day just to go home and watch between 2 and 50 tapes each containing 10+ hours of footage to see if someone has got their buns out on camera.
      5) Who cares if Apple is doing this for PR? The bottom line is he is fighting for your rights, and is backed up by most other tech firms who have all filed legal documents in support of Apple- including but not limited to, Google, Facebook, Twitter, McAfee, WhatsApp, the former chief of the NSA and CIA (Michael Hayden), Huawei, Mozilla, The New York Times, and most importantly, 46% of Americans, and this percentage is rising at every single poll as people become more aware of the lies being told by the DoJ and FBI.

      Who the hell does Cook think he is? Try the owner of the most valuable company in the world, the guy that signs the paychecks of 115,000 people (not including all the employees who manufacture the various components inside the device). If Apple falls, (which it won’t), good luck keeping a job when there are over a hundred thousand people better than you also looking.

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      Troll harder…The government can not force a private company to write software for them, or forcibly steal source code and digital signatures. That is the definition of tyranny.

    • scottkitts - 8 years ago

      “Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.” Benjamin Franklin – one people who actually, literally wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

      You Sir (or Madam, as you didn’t have the courage to sign your own name) are a coward.

    • givemethedaily - 8 years ago

      You are an absolute idiot if you think the terrorist put all his terrorist friends in his work iphone, monitored by the government. The FBI blew it by messing up the cloud password, and I am beginning to think it was on purpose. The FBI picked this case, and then will use it on anyone and anything, despite what the Director said to congress. We have no idea what they do with drones and stingray in the US, and you want to give them more abilities that we will not be able to monitor? Hey, if you want to give up your freedoms… don’t lock your iphone. Let the rest of us try to keep the government out of our business. And if you don’t think that is where this is heading, you are an absolute idiot. This doesn’t just give the ability to the U.S., when China asks for the same access, what prevents them from doing this so they can “Protect the Chinese People”. You haven’t just had a drink of the FBI Kool-Aid, you are mainlining it.

    • trinities - 8 years ago

      It´s funny how you think you have “privacy” when in fact, considering the fact that a phone uses wireless – 3rd party services – which basically have no privacy at all. For example – an sms message sent would allready have (could) been easily uncovered. Also, I wouldn´t be surprised, if for example the NSA wouldn´t be already hooked up to the internet cables entering USA (as they allready are), and that they would be using some super advanced storage solutions from some freaking area 51, that allow them to store exabytes of data, and actually be decripting them using some quantum PC. Lol.

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        There is a difference between “can pull the data down” and “can do something with the data once pulled down”

  6. F&#* the government!

  7. alexandereiden - 8 years ago

    The DoJ is seriously like a child. They can just shove a cactus up their ass

  8. I literally lost my breath reading that.. I’m speechless, this is insane. What the fuck is wrong your with country and why do the rest of us have to suffer.

    The land of the free? Absolutely not, this is unbelievable and it cannot stand. You guys are the laughing stock of the world, you claim your the powerful, the free, the brave. Your government is a tyrant coward that is afraid of the truth which is you are a long forgotten super power.

    • Exactly! The US always tells the world how a brave democracy they are. But per definition they’re not. Only 2 parties available for presidental candidate, either democrates or republicans. Not 3rd or 4th … party allowed, like in all European countries.
      Second they command the world, and those who don’t comply are either forced by war (drone attacks) or by unfair hidden treaties: see “Safe Harbour” the EU was forced to sign it! And now TTIP a secret BS Nonsense the Europeans are not allowed to see but have to sign it or else…
      The US act the same everywhere in the world, except China, because in 10 to 20 years China will be number one. Already now they are producing 80% of all products.
      In the Case of Apple vs the FBI, the NSA or any other secret service sees everybody as an enemy. It has nothing to do with terrorism. (In fact until now no bigger terrorist plot was ever prevented, despite all the collected data).
      As did James Bamford wrote in Wired in 2012: according to an US gov official about the NSA: “Everybody is a target; everybody with communication is a target”
      Now the US gov wants access to all iPhones, because Google has a Backdoor to all Android phones, as was testified some weeks ago in some drug dealer trial. Idem for Blackberries or Windows phones.
      Until now only iphones are save. But I believe that Apple will be forced to change this.
      The same is true for encryption? Why isn’t it possible to do 4096 bit or 8192 bit encryption? Because secret treaties between the US gov (NSA) and other nations don’t allow for a higher encryptions the secret services aren’t able to crack it yet.
      Since years it was allowed to use selfmate encryption in France, now they are boring a law to imprision anybody who doesn’t help to decrypt.
      Just look at the case of the RSA algorithm, because the NSA payed 10 Millions US$, the algorithm works as it is. With some super power computers (available for 75 US$/hour from Amazon) and high tech GFX cards it’s crackable in 30 days. And with the NSA super computers its crackable in real time.

      The same goes for 1024 bit Diffie-Hellman key: 30 days via Amazon, with special hardware speed up 80 times. So crackable in real time for NSA no problem.

      For more infos about this check the Chaos Computer Club days (32C3)

      https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7288-logjam_diffie-hellman_discrete_logs_the_nsa_and_you

      or http://seclab.upenn.edu/projects/faas/

      Other great topics here https://media.ccc.de/c/32c3

      But probably not allowed in the US ;-)

  9. Jorth Storm - 8 years ago

    Welcome to the Fifth Reich. Citizen rights are rapidly vanishing, government has little or no responsibility to the people but wants total(itarian) control of business and people. Their prime interest is continuation of their own power and wealth. Next will be the purging of libraries of harmful or dangerous books that don’t fit the views of the government.

  10. Chad Crane - 8 years ago

    This kind of argument will make Apple consider moving their headquarters to another country.

  11. Exactly! The US always tells the world how a brave democracy they are. But per definition they’re not. Only 2 parties available for presidental candidate, either democrates or republicans. Not 3rd or 4th … party allowed, like in all European countries.
    Second they command the world, and those who don’t comply are either forced by war (drone attacks) or by unfair hidden treaties: see “Safe Harbour” the EU was forced to sign it! And now TTIP a secret BS Nonsense the Europeans are not allowed to see but have to sign it or else…
    The US act the same everywhere in the world, except China, because in 10 to 20 years China will be number one. Already now they are producing 80% of all products.
    In the Case of Apple vs the FBI, the NSA or any other secret service sees everybody as an enemy. It has nothing to do with terrorism. (In fact until now no bigger terrorist plot was ever prevented, despite all the collected data).
    As did James Bamford wrote in Wired in 2012: according to an US gov official about the NSA: “Everybody is a target; everybody with communication is a target”
    Now the US gov wants access to all iPhones, because Google has a Backdoor to all Android phones, as was testified some weeks ago in some drug dealer trial. Idem for Blackberries or Windows phones.
    Until now only iphones are save. But I believe that Apple will be forced to change this.
    The same is true for encryption? Why isn’t it possible to do 4096 bit or 8192 bit encryption? Because secret treaties between the US gov (NSA) and other nations don’t allow for a higher encryptions the secret services aren’t able to crack it yet.
    Since years it was allowed to use selfmate encryption in France, now they are boring a law to imprision anybody who doesn’t help to decrypt.
    Just look at the case of the RSA algorithm, because the NSA payed 10 Millions US$, the algorithm works as it is. With some super power computers (available for 75 US$/hour from Amazon) and high tech GFX cards it’s crackable in 30 days. And with the NSA super computers its crackable in real time.

    The same goes for 1024 bit Diffie-Hellman key: 30 days via Amazon, with special hardware speed up 80 times. So crackable in real time for NSA no problem.

    For more infos about this check the Chaos Computer Club days (32C3)

    https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7288-logjam_diffie-hellman_discrete_logs_the_nsa_and_you

    or http://seclab.upenn.edu/projects/faas/

    Other great topics here https://media.ccc.de/c/32c3

    But probably not allowed in the US ;-)

  12. srgmac - 8 years ago

    Guys this is from daring fireball — aka John Gruber. Not exactly the brightest bulb…

  13. Moisés Pinto Muyal - 8 years ago

    If Apple accept to hand over IOS source code to any one that can use it on his own profit, against my interests, that includes US Government, and all US government institutions. I shall leave Apple to return to Android or Windows, even a Chinese or Korean OS. In that case who cares about security, if none has it. I remind Apple that Politicians, allover the world, and that includes the USA, ignore the meaning of “decorum”. They are in politics to become more rich than when they started, and that is parallel all around planet earth. Politics, and law, are instruments of mighty to become mightier. Awake!!!

    • Yes exactly.
      How did Warren Buffet say: “People are afraid of war, even 3rd World War and they are afraid of a terrorist war. But that is not a problem. The real war is between the rich and poor. Since WW II it’s there. And one thing I know for sure: My class is winning this war!”

  14. leifashley - 8 years ago

    Fuck that… if they push for that, that will start an activist movement and I’ll attend every local event. The DOJ has zero authority to compel any company to reveal it’s trade secrets and intellectual property unless they are found to be criminal, which Apple is obviously not.

    It’s days like this I find our American government disgusting. How do we vote these tools out of office?

  15. just1n12 - 8 years ago

    Wow this is gonna be interesting on March 22nd.. I’m scared for Apple and us as customers of Apple products.

  16. How many of you voted for Obama?

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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