The WSJ has illustrated the stark contrast in Apple’s attitude to assisting law enforcement to access iPhones before and after the Snowden revelations about mass surveillance of private data. It was already known that Apple had helped access more than 70 pre-iOS 8 iPhones, and the paper today reports that – in the earliest known case – the company went as far as drafting the language for the court order.
Lawyers and investigators involved in the 2008 prosecution of Amanda and Christopher Jansen, a young married couple from Watertown, N.Y., remember it as one of the most horrific cases of child sex abuse they had ever seen.
History may remember it for another reason. It is believed to be the first case of a federal judge ordering Apple to assist the government in unlocking an iPhone—and the technology giant not only complied; it helped prosecutors draft the court order requiring it to do so …
The court order was signed within hours, and a NY State Police investigator took the iPhone to Cupertino where Apple bypassed the passcode in the investigator’s presence.
Apple has long argued that its refusal to compromise the security of iOS by writing a special ‘GovtOS’ version is motivated by the desire to protect customers from the risks of the exploit making it out into the wild rather than any wish to hinder investigations.
While the legal battle between Apple and the FBI over a work phone in the San Bernardino case fizzled out, the debate is far from over. While the FBI is so far being coy about the method used to access that phone, it has confirmed that the approach doesn’t work with the iPhone 5s or later iPhones. There will undoubtedly be further legal attempts to gain access to more recent iPhones.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
I don’t really understand why people think this is so contradictory… Until Edward Snowden opened people’s eyes this wasn’t really an issue people thought about in terms of Apple, at least not in the mainstream ( I know it was big in the 90s for a bit.) In 2013 Apple really changed their stance, don’t really know why something that happened in 2008 is relevant.
Apple still helps, nothing changed besides the FBI wanting a backdoor Apple does not want to give.
because a lot of people, despite the massive wealth of multi-angled knowledge our continual access to the Internet provides, choose to be complete idiots.
Exactly. Remember, the US government has illegally hacked into Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.’s private clouds…If any of us did that, we would be in federal prison right now. It’s a trust issue…You don’t lend someone a few bucks when they come and rob you in the middle of the night repetitively. What you do is you get bars on your doors / windows.
And, this should spark controversy from the people who feel that Apple is anti-terrorism, anti-patriotism and just this side of satans-spawn for refusing to help the DOJ with the case in CA.
It paints a totally different picture – one that the WSJ highlights – of a company willing to help the government until it saw the abuses that the government was heaping on its constituents behind the scenes.
Thank you, Apple. I still believe in what you are doing and what your stand says!
These case are very different to the recent ones.
Back then Apple had the ability to unlock a phone. They did not and still do not object to helping law enforcement open a phone if they have a key for it.
In the recent cases law enforcement have demanded that Apple do hacking work for the government, design and build a backdoor that introduces a security and privacy risk for everyone and basically break their own product.
There is a BIG difference. The recent cases are unprecedented therefore they do not demonstrate any change in Apple position. In fact Applr continues to bend over backwards to help law enforcement with it’s ability and the laws. The recent cases have revealed where Apple draws the line!
The media and the FBI have tried to paint this as Apple changed their position, they used to unlock phones and now they refuse to. This is very wrong, in the recent cases Apple is not simply being asked to ‘unlock’. Have have no key and they are being asked to break down the door, in fact potentially weaken the door for everyone. In refusing to do this, Apple is not protecting the privacy of criminals, they are pretecting the privacy and security of all their customers.
Proof that Apple is just acting as Straw Man or People’s Friend. Similar to Arthur Scargill in the days of the Miner’s Strikes, he just went out there and provided a spokesperson for the afflicted miners, hoodwinking them into believing they had some support in a matter where mines were doomed to closure and jobs would be lost, which ultimately they were.
Nope. Totally wrong. Apple purposely shifted to a more security focused policy only after the revelations from Ed Snowden about what the US government was doing. Do people forget that the courts ruled that the NSA acted illegally!? Not to mention we now have health tracking and banking right on our phones. That information needs to be kept safe.
Tends to confirm the view that Apples obstruction of law enforcement is nothing to do with protecting privacy.
Before or after Snowden, the issues around assisting to unlock a criminal’s phone (on court order) didn’t change.
Post Snowden, privacy became of greater interest to some customers and therefore became a useful sales and marketing ploy for Apple.
Apple’s sudden interest in protecting the privacy of criminals is a cynical marketing ploy.
Why couldn’t Apple’s stance or thoughts on security have changed? There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot changed after Jobs died and handed over company to Cook. Some of those things Jobs put in place are still trying to be dismantled by Apple. Of course part of this is marketing, we’re talking about a company the same way that many people in this country changed their stance on privacy the Snowden blew his whistle. Were they all wrong to change their minds? The only person who is cynical here is you.
Encourage all companies to improve device security. The government, who cannot secure its own house, now constantly trying to undermine security to subject us all to hackers. Open this door and it is open to all hackers as well as foreign governments.
The only thing Apple has ever cared about is profits, and by extension, brand image and sales. They have never once cared a bit about privacy except as a marketing tool.