Your thoughts on the whole apple situation

If you have no idea what i am talking about:

Spoiler

A Message to Our Customers

The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.

The Need for Encryption
Smartphones, led by iPhone, have become an essential part of our lives. People use them to store an incredible amount of personal information, from our private conversations to our photos, our music, our notes, our calendars and contacts, our financial information and health data, even where we have been and where we are going.

All that information needs to be protected from hackers and criminals who want to access it, steal it, and use it without our knowledge or permission. Customers expect Apple and other technology companies to do everything in our power to protect their personal information, and at Apple we are deeply committed to safeguarding their data.

Compromising the security of our personal information can ultimately put our personal safety at risk. That is why encryption has become so important to all of us.

For many years, we have used encryption to protect our customers’ personal data because we believe it’s the only way to keep their information safe. We have even put that data out of our own reach, because we believe the contents of your iPhone are none of our business.

The San Bernardino Case
We were shocked and outraged by the deadly act of terrorism in San Bernardino last December. We mourn the loss of life and want justice for all those whose lives were affected. The FBI asked us for help in the days following the attack, and we have worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime. We have no sympathy for terrorists.

When the FBI has requested data that’s in our possession, we have provided it. Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants, as we have in the San Bernardino case. We have also made Apple engineers available to advise the FBI, and we’ve offered our best ideas on a number of investigative options at their disposal.

We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good. Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.

Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.

The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.

The Threat to Data Security
Some would argue that building a backdoor for just one iPhone is a simple, clean-cut solution. But it ignores both the basics of digital security and the significance of what the government is demanding in this case.

In today’s digital world, the “key” to an encrypted system is a piece of information that unlocks the data, and it is only as secure as the protections around it. Once the information is known, or a way to bypass the code is revealed, the encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge.

The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.

The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.

We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.

A Dangerous Precedent
Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority.

The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer.

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government.

We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.

While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Tim Cook
Customer Letter - Apple

tl;dr The FBI is essentially asking Apple to create a custom version of iOS that would facilitate the FBI’s attempts at unlocking the iPhone by “brute force,” i.e., trying millions of passcode combinations, without the risk of deleting the data on the device.

 

Well the custom patch won't effect current devices as they use a completely different feature that is based on a hardware processor and code. It will actually defeat this method.

However I think it's a slippery slope to enforce this ruling and force Apple to do this. Once you do it for this phone and manufacture...what's to stop you from doing it next time or a similar order to Google?

 

look i understand what the fbi and other security agencys are trying to do and i thank them for it terrorism is a real threat in the 21st centry but is being able to watch what ppl are doing all the time really the solution why doesnt the fbi and other agnecys try to inform people of the truth and work on deradiclsing rather then pushing ppl towards become terrorists by takeing peoples freedoms away if i want to PRIVATLY text someone who are u to look try eductating also side note force does not sort all problems

 

As long as they cant access my "files" and my secret history then im fine

 

rasies more questions then anwers

 

Hehehehehe

 

This is being misreported in areas of the media (I'm sure not intentionally... he says, with tongue firmly in cheek) as a system wide operating system change. It is not. The FBI request, which became an order after judicial approval, is for that particular phone belonging to that particular individual to be affected. If they wanted to do the same to any other phone they would have to go through the judicial system again to get authorisation.

 

I think that Apple shouldn't do this because it removes privacy of users. If the FBI has physical access to the device, FBI should get to the data and decrypt them. It is not Apple job, it is FBI job to get those data.

 

But... They would have to change some of the OS info, and have to have the back door in there. Once you open a door, no matter how tightly it's locked, some one else can open it. With either picking the lock or brute forcing it open.

 

I wouldn't disagree with that, but having read the court documents (I'm a security analyst), I can't find where Apple are being told to do what they, and much of the media, are claiming they are being told to do. They are being asked to change the SIF (security information file) on that phone, they are not changing the distributed operating system. The FBI is even proposing that Apple can do it themselves at their own lab if they would prefer as stated here in the court order - "The SIF would be installed on the subject device at either a government, or alternatively, at an Apple facility (as is already done when Apple recovers data from earlier iOS versions)" and later ""The FBI will send Apple the recovered iPhone so that this customized version of iOS never physically leaves the Apple campus."

I simply don't buy Apple's version that this makes ALL iphones vulnerable. It only makes iPhones vulnerable that the FBI gets a specific court order for, and that physically has the SIF installed at the Apple lab.

 

Once you make the patch, law enforcement then would have the patch to apply to any device they want. You modify this file via firmware upgrade or update. This is how every other backdoor exists. I suggest looking in to the Fortune and Juniper back doors for proof of this.

 

But law enforcement wouldn't have the patch. The court order is quite specific about that. In fact the FBI made it clear in their submission that they did not want access to it. They want Apple to use it in specific circumstances when a court order has been granted.

 

Ah, Recoil. Isn't 'spin' wonderful? Everyone is spinning the story their own way. My analysis agrees with yours, in that this doesn't open anything up to future Armageddon, though Apple certainly is spinning it that way. I also notice that they admit that subsequent models of the phone are ineligible for this procedure anyhow, as it would be impossible based upon the architecture, but notice that the discussion hasn't mentioned that, even if this were to open floodgates, it would be doing so on a phone which will see a steadily decreasing user base anyhow.

The wider picture, of course, is privacy. I believe in security through obscurity. Actual individual privacy, if you're under a real microscope by the NSA, etc? That's done. Stick a fork in it. So many people want their data to be private, to hide what they're doing. You know, everyone else is doing it, too. Don't worry. Nobody cares, unless it's planning to blow something up with people in it. Then we care. And, I think, someone has to have a way of finding out if you're planning to do that.

Legally, I think Apple is on shaky ground. Certainly they have the money to keep fighting, and certainly they'll try to drum up public support through their press releases, hoping to apply enough pressure to force the government to back down, so I'm curious to see if it works. I hope it doesn't, as rule of law becoming based on public opinion rather than established law is kind of scary.

"Judge, I move to dismiss because 67.3% of twitter users think we should." Gak...

 

Well, If the FBI can backdoor the IOS then so will everyone else who understands a little bit in software!

 

basicly fbi stop being unresnoble u do not need to watch everything i do go away

 

Its more of a "what if" issue for me. This item raises ethical issues, but I understand why this could be needed. I also worry about Apple being hacked and how to access this virtual weakness falling into the hands of unfriendly people.

 

Sorry you are still missing understanding. Law enforcement will still be in legal control of the device. Once you have the patched OS, it's not hard to reverse engineer.

Either way you are ignoring the fact rhst the court over stepped its authority in the issue. This is dead if it goes to SCOTUS as it violates the constitution.

Also yes, I am a certified Information Security Analyst. Even have a new piece of paper from the NSA backing it up. Also have a background in law enforcement . So I understand both sides of this very well.

 

The FBI are bending over backwards in their court submissions to show that they do not want to invade privacy, but they have a job to do and they need to do it. This is not a phone belonging to someone with a vague charge hanging over them. 14 people were killed, and 22 seriously injured, there is no doubt as to the guilt or seriousness of the crime. Can you really blame law enforcement for wanting to find out who he was dealing with prior to this? Do you honestly think this is just a cover for some government conspiracy so that they can see what photos you have on you phone?

For the FBI to have a key piece of evidence and not pursue it would be a dereliction of duty of the highest order. I realise that some of you will not be swayed by my arguments, or the facts facing you. Conspiracy theory is like a religion, you get bonus points for having 'faith' in something no matter how clear the evidence against it is.

 

There is no conspiracy theory. I suggest again you go look up the hacks I mentioned earlier that were for law enforcement use only, and are now sev 5 vulnerabilities. You are the only one unable to listen and change your stance. Instead you want to throw out strawmen and false statements.