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No, Apple Has Not Unlocked 70 iPhones For Law Enforcement
TechCrunch ^ | Matthew Panzarino

Posted on 02/18/2016 8:40:13 PM PST by DBG8489

The more highly technical the basis of a story, the more likely it is that some key detail will get jacked up by a journalist trying to translate it for the public. Call it Panzer's Law.

It's only natural, especially when it comes to stories about security and privacy, like the FBI vs. Apple. There are a myriad of complex technical mechanics at play, fiercely difficult Gordian Knots of encryption and hardware solutions to unravel and a number of previous interactions between Apple and the government that have set one precedent or another.

But no matter how hard it is, it's important to get this stuff right. The press has the ability not only to act as a translator but also as an obfuscator. If they get it and they're able to deliver that information clearly and with proper perspective, the conversation is elevated, the public is informed and sometimes it even alters the course of policy making for the better.

When it comes to the court order from the FBI to Apple, compelling it to help it crack a passcode, there is one important distinction that I've been seeing conflated.

(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: apple; california; encryption; iphone; sanbernadino; sanbernardino
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Read the rest at the link. Working in tech, I see this all the time. The mainstream media hardly ever understands what is being said - and usually reports it incorrectly.

YMMV

1 posted on 02/18/2016 8:40:13 PM PST by DBG8489
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To: DBG8489

excellent reporting.. thanks for posting


2 posted on 02/18/2016 8:49:41 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: DBG8489

Good for Apple. Amazed, but they are fighting tyranny ... whatever the motivation.


3 posted on 02/18/2016 8:50:04 PM PST by RIghtwardHo
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To: RIghtwardHo
I wouldn't say they're fighting tyranny as much as they don't want a repeat of previous cycles of every law enforcement on the planet calling on Apple to unlock iPhones as they did with phones prior to iOS 8. Complying with those requests almost made their own division within Apple for a time.
4 posted on 02/18/2016 8:54:02 PM PST by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: DBG8489

Looks like to me that Apple could comply with the order and unlock this one particular phone and not unlock all the others of the same model.


5 posted on 02/18/2016 9:27:16 PM PST by libertylover (The problem with Obama is not that his skin is too black, it's that his ideas are too RED.)
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To: libertylover

No. It is not that simple. You do not understand.

They are not asking Apple to “unlock” this particular iphone.
There is no method that currently exists to do that.

They are asking Apple to create something that does not currently exist,
...a method to bypass the security on the operating system that would then be applicable to all iphones.

Apple developed, marketed, and sold iphones based on their security features,
now the government wants them to create a way to by-pass their proprietary own software.


6 posted on 02/18/2016 9:53:56 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Repeal The 17th

Apple needs to produce products which can come into compliance with legitimate court orders. It is the only way we can protect ourself so from terrorists murderers child joke stores and others who will use those products to hide guilty evidence.


7 posted on 02/18/2016 9:56:45 PM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: Repeal The 17th
Are you saying there's no way to unlock this particular phone EVER, but the government wants Apple to modify the operating system for future phones to give the government a future back door entrance?
8 posted on 02/18/2016 10:16:20 PM PST by libertylover (The problem with Obama is not that his skin is too black, it's that his ideas are too RED.)
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To: DBG8489

Bttt


9 posted on 02/18/2016 10:19:15 PM PST by moehoward
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To: DBG8489

*


10 posted on 02/18/2016 10:26:12 PM PST by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: Repeal The 17th

If they built the device with such a high level of encryption and didn’t create a key for themselves in the first place is it even possible for Apple to crack it?

Is it reasonable to expect Apple to be any better at cracking encryptions than the FBI?


11 posted on 02/18/2016 10:29:47 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: morphing libertarian

No, the way to protect ourselves from terrorists is to keep the terrorists out of the country in the first place.

If the Government pursued that with the vigor with which they are going after Apple, San Bernadino would have never happened.


12 posted on 02/18/2016 10:29:48 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: libertylover

The operating system (the software that runs the phone)
was designed so that the user (the owner)
could lock the phone with a password.
After ten wrong attempts to enter the password,
the phone would erase itself.
This was an expensive and proprietary software development by Apple.
It gave them market leverage as the most secure device available.
Now, the government wants Apple to develop a method
to defeat (devalue) their own proprietary security.
I do not know of any better way to explain it to you.


13 posted on 02/18/2016 10:30:20 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Repeal The 17th
It gave them market leverage as the most secure device available.

Which post-Edward Snowden became a very import feature.

14 posted on 02/18/2016 10:33:58 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

Hillary Clinton can solve the whole thing. Elect her and with her model every phone and computer will be hackable just by having a cat walk across the keyboard.


15 posted on 02/18/2016 10:41:59 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: DBG8489

Explains it so even a cave man will understand. Thanks for posting.


16 posted on 02/18/2016 10:44:09 PM PST by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: dfwgator

They dont care about Snowden. They did it because of the celebrity hackings.

That said I am in a bind over this. I think its very important that law enforcement, with proper warrants have access to data that can directly help them. On the other hand give the government an inch they will take the whole damned mile. The terrorists and every criminal will turn to Apple though if they can get the courts to rule in their favor.

What a conundrum.


17 posted on 02/18/2016 10:53:17 PM PST by aft_lizard
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To: libertylover
Looks like to me that Apple could comply with the order and unlock this one particular phone and not unlock all the others of the same model.

If it is that easy, the government should just get their own engineers to write the code...

18 posted on 02/18/2016 11:23:21 PM PST by CurlyDave
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To: aft_lizard
That said I am in a bind over this. I think its very important that law enforcement, with proper warrants have access to data that can directly help them. On the other hand give the government an inch they will take the whole damned mile. The terrorists and every criminal will turn to Apple though if they can get the courts to rule in their favor.

When we have all of the "Fast & Furious" information, all of Hillary's emails, and all of the real story on Lois Lerner and the IRS, I might begin to agree.

Until then, the government has demonstrated that it can not be trusted, and Apple is doing the right thing.

When Trump is elected, he will shut off mohammedan immigration by EO, and there will be no repeats of 9/11 or this attack.

19 posted on 02/18/2016 11:33:48 PM PST by CurlyDave
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To: CurlyDave

Yeah, but it’s a lot easier if you’ve got the source code and access protocol and the hardware interface already developed.


20 posted on 02/19/2016 5:36:42 AM PST by libertylover (The problem with Obama is not that his skin is too black, it's that his ideas are too RED.)
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