Apple CEO Cook condemns iPhone 'backdoor' order; calls it 'chilling,' 'dangerous'

upi.com ^ | February 17, 2016 | Shawn Price and Andrew V. Pestano

[John W]

LOS ANGELES Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday said a court order demanding the company create a "backdoor" into the cellphone data of the San Bernardino, Calif., attackers was "chilling" and "dangerous."

In a letter to customers, Cook expressed his opposition to the court order.

"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," Cook wrote. "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."

[palmer]

I'm kinda thinking i'm going to enjoy seeing this work out either way. If Apple is forced to do something against their will, then perhaps the fascist bastards will get a glimmer of understanding of how it feels to be on the receiving end of a government forcing you to do something you don't want to do.

You don't get it. If someone stuffs a bag of stolen merchandise in his safe, and the police obtain a warrant to search it, he must tell them the combination. If he does not, they present the evidence to a judge and the judge forces him to open it or go to jail. The judge uses an even higher standard of evidence than when issuing the warrant.

In this case Apple did nothing wrong. Not only that, they did a good job protecting all their customers' privacy and for that should be commended. You say they are "fascist bastards" but in fact they protect large numbers of people against fascist governments.

[palmer]

Anyone out there have a good legal argument as to why they should not have to comply with this order?

Yes, Apple has done nothing wrong. They made an unbreakable safe and that's of far greater public value than any breakable safe.

[pgyanke]

>>Fascist. And yes... I mean it.

Of course you do, because you are making an emotional argument, and so you have to throw out emotional assertions.

Wrong. It was a definitional argument.

Fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

My charge against you was leveled when you determined that Apple's Work on their IPhone XX can wait for a couple of days. Advocating that level control... that Apple can do the government's spurious bidding to the detriment of their business... is a fascist approach.

But no, it is not FASCISM for a company to comply with a search warrant.

True. What would be fascist is for the government to compel the company and its employees to do what they are told simply because they have been told to do it. Certainly no one's advocating that on here, are they?

But while we're on this subject, I find it amusing that you are characterizing the Judicial system issuing Apple an order as "Fascist", but at the same time you are not characterizing as "Fascist" the efforts of Apple ,having worked to ingrain themselves into the federally funded education system for decades, and trying to force their indulgent Homosexual morality on everyone else.

You should have led with this then everyone would have known it was pointless to take you seriously. Is Apple a government now? No. They are a company. They can't implement a fascist regime. They can, however, advocate that the government behave in a fascist manner and in this regard, they are... no question. Nearly everyone on FR has called them on it. What's your point?

As a matter of fact, Silicon Valley has pretty much embraced fascism as near as I can see. We had google personnel using their resources, database, and software teams helping Barack Obama get elected.

They are private companies and private people doing what they want with their time and resources. We may not like what they are doing but they have the right to do it. Suggesting otherwise puts you in the fascist seat.

[DiogenesLamp]

Gotta go. Real life beckons. Reply tomorrow.

[pgyanke]

When all nonphysical evidence is easily put beyond the reach of the courts then tell me what good is the 4th Amendment wrt such evidence.

Here's the problem... you are arguing the 4th Amendment from the perspective of the government. The 4th Amendment isn't about making sure the government has access to our persons, houses, papers and effects. It's about our right to be secure in those and it sets down the condition whereby the government may search and seize.

Remember the perspective of the Founding Fathers... they had just thrown off the chains of a government that did not respect the right to privacy. They did not turn around and set up a government with the exact same prerogatives.

The Constitutional balance is lost and some new balance will emerge.

There is no Constitutional balance in the Bill of Rights. We have all of the rights and we have given our government certain authority for when they may intrude on those rights. We are not in a balance of rights with our government.

[pgyanke]

No, I argue for a government limited by search warrants, the same as we have had since 1788.

Your snarking aside, you are wrong. This is not what you are arguing. Here is your post, once again:

At the moment, I don't see a problem with a valid law enforcement agency getting access to private data, so long as a Judge has signed a search warrant to allow it.

The NSA has been able to do all that it has done with indiscriminate data-gathering through warrants rubber-stamped by a judge. That meets your criteria for when our personal records may be seized. Therefore, there is no limit as long as the government goes through the motions.

[pgyanke]

If Apple is forced to do something against their will, then perhaps the fascist bastards will get a glimmer of understanding of how it feels to be on the receiving end of a government forcing you to do something you don't want to do.

So there it is in black and white. You are a fascist... as long as the government targets the "right" people.

[pgyanke]

I'm kinda thinking that bloodying up Apple (and other Fascist tech companies) is probably a pretty good outcome. These Silicon Valley billionaires need to be on the receiving end of a vicious government for a change. They need to get a good dose of government forcing them to do something against their will.

You really had to argue with me when I called you a fascist? You are. Definitionally. You are type of person who, under the color of "fairness", will cheer our republic into tyranny.

[pgyanke]

I am marketing my opinion as well reasoned.

And failing miserably. As entertaining a punching bag as you make, I'm done with you. You can keep flailing wildly at imaginary windmills.

[mrsmith]

The Constitution is not a toy.
The Founders- who passed the All Writs Act by the way- were practical and informed people. I hate to see their work thrown away by people who think they can get something for nothing.

[pgyanke]

The Founders- who passed the All Writs Act by the way- were practical and informed people. I hate to see their work thrown away by people who think they can get something for nothing.

I hate to see the Founders work undone by people do not understand their unalienable rights. They are not a gift of government to be set aside when they become inconvenient.

[central_va]

I would say most Freepers, when it comes down to it, are Libertarian.

[Swordmaker]

The data that they are looking for is only on the phone, because the phone wasn’t backing up to iCloud. The only way to get the data is to hack into the phone.

Even if it were backed up to the iCloud, it would STILL be encrypted to a 256bit AES standard with a KEY that Apple simply does not have. . . a key that exists only on the iPhone in a completely secure location inside the processor where it cannot be read from outside.

[Swordmaker]

Apple should have quietly offered to help (or complied with a subpoena), put a few pointy heads on this, hopefully provided information, and then have been done with it.

Apple IS assisting within reason. They however refuse to build a backdoor into the iPhone which can be used on ANY iPhone as well as this one. . . which is what it would take to actually get into it.

[Swordmaker]

Exactly. Fourteen people are dead. There’s an obstruction of justice charge in there somewhere for this sanctimonious turd burglar. Feds come to him AFTER a crime has been committed, want him to provide access to his company’s product, and he refuses? He doesn’t have to show them how AAPL accesses the memory, but he does need to do provide the access.

Actually, if someone were arrested due to data uncovered in the iPhone search, the defense attorneys for the arrestee would be entitled to all details of exactly HOW that data was extracted from that supposedly secure iPhone, including the technical details of how it was done to assure it was not manufactured data. Discovery can be a bitch that way. Apple discovered that in their own court cases when the judges ordered them to expose other "company secrets" to their competition.

[Swordmaker]

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Give Apple the phone, let them break into the phone so the FBI has access to the data that was encrypted so they can do more research. If they are concerned about giving away company secrets/IP, they could probably print out the data then re-encrypt the phone.

Apple does not have the KEY to the encryption. Only the user of the iPhone had that. Nor does Apple even have a means of deciphering that encryption. No one does. That is what Apple is trying to tell these know-nothings on the Court who are ordering what cannot be done.

They are insisting that Apple completely RE-WRITE iOS without the security components, and then somehow install it on this one particular iPhone (something I am not sure is really possible to do), overwriting the secure version of the OS, so they can get around the SECURE BOOT ROUTINES which are hardcoded into the startup of the phone, all without damaging the existing data on the SSD, where the OS is intermingled with the data. It ain't an easy thing.

[cymbeline]

“Each time the owner puts in his passcode ...”

It’s a passcode, huh? How long is it? Then breaking the code becomes an exercise in entering one passcode after another until the proper one is found. Is this correct?

Someone, maybe you, said the government wants Apple to eliminate the 9-try limit when entering passwords, correct?

So my solution is for Apple to give an option to have a very long passcode.

Does this make sense?

[Swordmaker]

thanks. that was my question exactly.
seems to me to be a reasonable solution.
apple should open up these two phones, give the government the data from these two phones and keep the way through the backdoor to themselves.

Have you ever heard of anyone being a little bit pregnant? That is what you are proposing. You cannot do what you are proposing. Once you allow a judge to order the opening of just "these two phones" then another judge will find a reason to open the next, and another the next. . . then police will demand the tool themselves. All it takes is for a bribe to be paid and the "tool" will be in the hands of the criminals, and the means to steal credit cards in ApplePay will be out there for anyone with the wish to steal your iPhone. Just the knowledge it can be done means that hackers will find the way Apple did it.

[cymbeline]

passcode reply continued

Light might be dawning in my head. All of that encryption stuff is because the iPhone has to know the correct password, and the encryption stuff makes it virtually impossible to dig into the iPhone and find the correct password.

Could this be correct?

[Vision]

What was chilling and dangerous was how Apple attacked the state of Indiana.