Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants

washingtonpost.com ^ | 9-18-2014 | Craig Timberg

[servo1969]

Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.

The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers.

The key is the encryption that Apple mobile devices automatically put in place when a user selects a passcode, making it difficult for anyone who lacks that passcode to access the information within, including photos, e-mails and recordings. Apple once maintained the ability to unlock some content on devices for legally binding police requests but will no longer do so for iOS 8, it said in the new privacy policy.

“Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data,” Apple said on its Web site. “So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”

[servo1969]

It's been out more than 48 hours now.
I bet someone has already hacked it.

[circlecity]

I’m not a big fan of the tech giants but if Apple is sincere about this then good for them.

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

If this is true, than I will buy my first apple product since the 2E.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Cool.

[VanDeKoik]

All homes have backdoors.

[null and void]

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

[mmichaels1970]

I bet someone has already hacked it.

Lol. My daughter is probably working on that as we speak.

The way I interpret it, this is a move that is less about hacking as it is about Apple's role in accessing private user data to provide to government. They're basically trying to take themselves out of the equation and force the government to get whatever info it wants from the user themselves and not Apple.

Unless I'm misreading, this is a nice little support for the fourth amendment.

It's a very smart move IMHO, and I can see this being a new trend with devices going forward: increased user privacy.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Are Apple execs prepared to go to jail the day some judge finds them in contempt?

I highly, highly doubt it.

[gaijin]

if we are demilitarizing the military at the same time as militarizing the police, what does THAT say about who the new enemies are...?

good for Apple...!

[mmichaels1970]

Are Apple execs prepared to go to jail the day some judge finds them in contempt?

If that were the case and what Apple claims is true, they'd HAVE to go to jail. They are claiming their encryption is linked to the passcode, so without knowing the user's passcode, they can't decrypt the data.

It would be like demanding a credit card number from an online vendor. They simply don't have the credit card number, only an encrypted transaction that authorized them payment. They can't provide the government with something they don't have.

[dead]

They didn't say anything about letting the police pay for our private data that Apple aggragates, like any other organization has to do.

You want a donut, you buy a donut.

[rarestia]

It’s not a “hacking” matter with this. This is Apple stating that they CAN’T help LE anymore, because they don’t hold the keys to the backdoors. This is Apple acknowledging that, “Yes, we had a second set of keys to your device to use for legal purposes, but we’re not going to do that anymore.”

Every security methodology has a “backdoor” built in, but if the security model puts the generation of keys, certificates, etc. in the hands of the consumer, then they can plausibly say that they have no way to assist.

[circlecity]

"Are Apple execs prepared to go to jail the day some judge finds them in contempt?"

Contempt for what? If they don't have the ability to get into any specific unit then it's not contempt not to do so. Is there a law the requires them to leave a back door entry to their OS?

[mmichaels1970]

This is a great article. Thanks for posting it. Here's an excerpt that really caught my eye:

Ronald T. Hosko, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, called the move by Apple “problematic,” saying it will contribute to the steady decrease of law enforcement’s ability to collect key evidence — to solve crimes and prevent them. The agency long has publicly worried about the “going dark” problem, in which the rising use of encryption across a range of services has undermined government’s ability to conduct surveillance, even when it is legally authorized.

“Our ability to act on data that does exist . . . is critical to our success,” Hosko said. He suggested that it would take a major event, such as a terrorist attack, to cause the pendulum to swing back toward giving authorities access to a broad range of digital information.

[mmichaels1970]

They didn't say anything about letting the police pay for our private data that Apple aggragates

They sort of did. Apple will still have to cooperate with the data they aggregate, such as data backed up and stored on the iCloud.

[manc]

Like the feds etc won’t get that info,this is a promo from Apple to fool the uneducated

[Mr. Jeeves]

Is there a law the requires them to leave a back door entry to their OS?

There has probably been tremendous secret pressure for them to turn that back door entry over to governments. Perhaps they have simply done so, and are now saying "We didn't keep a key for ourselves, so leave us alone."

[Red Badger]

Define ‘Most’...................

[metmom]

Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.

Good for them for not kowtowing to Big Brother.

Let's hope that other companies follow suit and resist the police state our country is becoming.

[Moltke]

Define ‘Most’...................

Just guessing: the ones that are able to 'upgrade' to this new OS.