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.”

[mmichaels1970]

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

I disagree that this is simply a promo. I do agree that if the feds want the info, they can get it. The Feds WILL go after your iCloud backups though with a vengeance. They can still get that from Apple. They can also go to your ISP with regard to internet browsing and downloading activity.

But to actually get to the info stored directly on your phone, they will have to go to YOU, not Apple. The Feds can get the info they need by obtaining a warrant and then forcing the suspect to disclose their passcode. Of course, I'm not sure what will happen if the suspect refuses to provide the passcode.

A good next step would be to provide some sort of cloud encryption key so that only the user with the key could make sense of the data stored up in the cloud.

[MrEdd]

Might try reading the article before posting.
(Not that I always do)

[RJS1950]

Exactly! The sons of pig f’n dogs are cheering this more loudly than some on this forum.

[mmichaels1970]

The sons of pig f’n dogs are cheering this more loudly than some on this forum.

If we were a country that still knew how to win a war, we'd have blown the hell out of the "pig f'n dogs" and we would have no need to hack their iPhones.

[Dave278]

The child pornographers are now celebrating.

[mmichaels1970]

The child pornographers are now celebrating.

That's a whole different avenue of investigation. Child porn is mainly distributed via file sharing services. One person's computer acts as a host and another computer downloads the images and then becomes a host for other computers.

For the most part, this is beyond the scope of an iPhone's application. Feds can detect known sources of child porn, then trace back requests from IP Addresses that are accessing those sources. The information linked to the IP Address is provided by the ISP (presumably via warrant). That leads the feds directly to the suspect where they can then seize the computer equipment (including the iPhone).

This encryption simply forces law enforcement to deal with the suspect more directly, rather than through the company that simply built the hardware and operating system.

[moovova]

No big deal. The feds will just turn to Peggy...

[Buckeye McFrog]

When some judge does find Apple in contempt I will post the story and you guys can all come back and dump on me.

Cause it will happen.

[mmichaels1970]

When some judge does find Apple in contempt I will post the story and you guys can all come back and dump on me.

One roadblock that the judge will have is the recent unanimous Supreme Court Ruling regarding phone privacy rights.

Excerpt:

Cellphones and smartphones generally cannot be searched by police without a warrant during arrests, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday in a major victory for privacy rights.

[zeugma]

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.

This is really smart, and the way things should have always have been done. Once they beat it into the heads of the survellance state that they can't get the data for them, it will save them millions in compliance costs.

[zeugma]

I disagree that this is simply a promo. I do agree that if the feds want the info, they can get it. The Feds WILL go after your iCloud backups though with a vengeance. They can still get that from Apple.

I'd be interested in knowing how Apple will deal with that issue. If they are smart, the data going into iCloud will be encrypted the same as the phone, rendering it useless for the survellance state.

Until the surveillance state outlaws encryption, and bans the teaching of any math beyond 1st year algebra, they'll be screwed, which is a good thing for the rest of us.

[DJ Frisat]

Color me skeptical of Apple's bravado. Anybody read the recent article about how much the gov't threatened fining Yahoo per day for refusing to play nice with NSA snooping a few years ago?

Money talks...

[Nifster]

good for them....wish the rest of the companies would take the same step

[minnesota_bound]

We will have to wait till the next batch of naked celebrity photos are released to determine if they have fixed the hacking problem....

[RJS1950]

Very true, but only possible if we rid ourselves of the RINOs and the democrat party. I am pretty sure that the intel agencies have already hacked their “unbreakable” system.

Openly proclaiming that their new system is unhackable is bleeding in front of sharks.

[Drew68]

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

If not, there soon will be. Tucked away in the middle of some highway spending bill.