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comment by steve
steve  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Apple CEO Tim Cook: "They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone."

    That is, an OS installed by Apple can circumvent encryption on the phone. This would mean that Apple does have a backdoor.

    My guess is that a new install can remove the brute force protections.

I don't understand why the FBI is demanding that Apple do this. I feel like if the government wants to hack it - go for it. Hack away. It is not Apple's (or insert any other company here) job to invade people's lives.

I'm pretty happy that Timmy boy is flexing his muscles like this.





kleinbl00  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Apple was one of the first companies accused of participation in the NSA's PRISM data mining initiative, following Snowden's release of hundreds of classified NSA documents. The PRISM project is said to have involved the extraction of "audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person's movements and contacts over time."

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/21/nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-refuses-to-use-apples-iphone-over-spying-concerns---report

This is Apple not allowing the FBI to do what they've allowed the NSA to do since 2012 or before. Before you get too pat-on-the-back-ey, recognize that they're making a big show of standing up in public when in private they rolled over without so much as a whine.

steve  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    recognize that they're making a big show of standing up in public when in private they rolled over without so much as a whine.

I can relate

I'll take a late change of heart to no change of heart.

Or maybe he's just lying through his teeth and telling the masses what they want to hear whilst secretly stashing the dick pics of college kids everywhere...

I'll hope for the former.

kleinbl00  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm siding with "the FBI lacks the leverage the NSA has."

user-inactivated  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Symbolic gestures aren't completely useless.

kingmudsy  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Sure, but I'd rather the symbolic gestures be genuine, rather than Apple trying to save face in front of the public.

As it stands now, I don't trust Apple any more than I did before this post, I just know that they're not selling my privacy this once. It doesn't mean anything when they're already selling it in other ways.

user-inactivated  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You shouldn't trust Apple. You should trust that Apple doesn't want to get caught willingly collaborating with the intelligence community against its users again, as since it has become widely known that American tech companies collaborate with American intelligence agencies customers overseas have been looking for alternatives, as if tech companies in every country didn't collaborate with their countries' intelligence agencies because while you can slam the door in the faces of the guys with all the guns, you can't expect it to work. They put up a token resistance to salvage some of their reputation, but in the process reinforce that this is a thing that should be resisted, and they have a big enough mouthpiece that that isn't nothing.

kingmudsy  ·  3199 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh, sorry, I was definitely trying to imply that I don't trust Apple! I apologize if my meaning wasn't clear, I edited the comment to reflect this.

kingmudsy  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, this whole thing feels like a PR grab. Also, the whole thing with iCloud leaking celebrity nude photos? They might be trying to create a controversy in order to wipe away some of the bad rap they got from that.

_refugee_  ·  3200 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I remember back when they had a canary clause, that was faddish too