Posted on 02/20/2016 10:09:42 PM PST by Swordmaker
Max, if indeed your bio is real, then I understand. You must be very old and remember how FDR took things from We, the People, such as confiscation of privately owned gold. What you say rings true to me. And, yes, of course, the whole thing stinks from the top. I don’t question the dedication of FBI agents in the field anymore than a soldier on duty. Unfortunately, we are already in a mixed economy welfare state that is taking Rights from us faster than we can possibly reverse in my lifetime. You see the big picture. So do most people fighting with you. I don’t even think it matters what Apple or any one business does. The Rights of the Individual or in this case a business which is a collection of Individuals, has been Infringed by fascist type rules, regulation and now an Executive Branch that grants powers to itself unchecked by the Judicial or Legislative Branch. Thanks for your efforts as a patriot of our once free Republic.
p= Actually it does. It destroyed the possibility of decrypting the data stored on the iCloud. . . without the original passcode, it is impossible to decrypt the data o either the iPhone or on the iCloud in any reasonable length of time for that data to do any living human being any good. By being so damn ignorant about what they were doing, and not calling Apple in at the get-go to talk to the experts about what to do and just going to some average IT grunt at a County IT department, and trying an amateurish idea, they probably destroyed any possibility of accessing those data.
Some of the newer Android phones have some pretty good encryption. Samsung was pushing its KNOX security and even got certification from the Federal Government. . . then it was discovered they were keeping their passcodes in an unencrypted clear text file in a Library easily found on the phone. Not safe at all.
I've heard they've improved on that.
Other, older model users running older versions of Android can get apps that will encrypt various portions of the data on their phones to various degrees. However, Android phones have around 4 million malware in the wild, some of which can completely compromise the phones and their security.
from here
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_drft.html
The only exception the 13th contemplates for slavery or involuntary servitude is as a punishment for a duly convicted crime. However, the courts have ruled that the intent of the 13th was never to abolish the draft, and that serving in the military, even against your will, is not involuntary servitude. These “duties owed to the government” are exempted from 13th Amendment protection. In Butler v Perry (240 US 328 [1916]), the Supreme Court wrote:
[The 13th Amendment] introduced no novel doctrine with respect of services always treated as exceptional, and certainly was not intended to interdict enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc. The great purpose in view was liberty under the protection of effective government, not the destruction of the latter by depriving it of essential powers.
But here is the conundrum. Why did the federal government permit Apple to sell their iphones with such difficult-to-break encryption without informing Apple in advance that it incurred an obligation to the government to provide a key? This sounds not so much like a valid purpose of government but more like a government fustercluck trying to bail itself out by abusing its power via indentured servitude. It should be up to the government to justify the exceptional circumstances, which at this point includes throwing away a valid opportunity to read the encrypted messages through LE carelessness. What happens the next time the government screws up a case? And the next? I think it is a slippery slope. Eventually we might find ourselves all conscripted into putting together government humpty dumpty fusterclucks (the so-called “exceptional circumstances”).
But I guess you don’t see any problem with that, right??
Thanks for expanding the details. One assumes that there is or should be a govt procedure for handling electronic evidence. Perhaps you immediately put the device into a RF shielded case and open later when you have a shielded work environment. Remember working in RF sealed rooms that had a two hatch airlock arrangement that allowed you (not RF) to get in or out.
Will the local yokel get a bonus for effort or fired for incompetence?
Apple tried to help but they forgot that “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Apple is helping terrorists.
> It destroyed the possibility of decrypting the data stored on the iCloud. . .
How so? The data in the cloud - Apple servers - is encrypted.
The encryption keys are stored in the phone on a ROM of some sort as is the boot pgm. Why doesn’t Apple help the FBI retrieve the keys and prevent power-on from starting that boot program?
You missed the news stories that reported that the data on the Cloud is from October, if IIRC. That was the last time that the bad guy copied the data from the phone to the Cloud.
Newer data (up to terror attack) is only on the phone. The up to date data could have been copied onto the Cloud without the passcode and accessed by Apple.
By tampering with the phone the govt put the phone into a state where the phone will no longer copy the post October data to the Cloud without the passcode.
SwordMaker will probably correct any misinformation here.
The KEY is on the iPhone 5C that was linked to that passcode that COULD have been accessed using the AppleID and passcode associated with that iPhone until those FBI BOZOs told the County IT department to change the AppleID on the iPhone's access without knowing what they were doing.
That same passcode is used to build the KEY that is used to encrypt both the data on the iPhone which is eventually uploaded to the iCloud. To extract either, one must be able to re-construct that KEY, either as a normal user would in day-to-day use of the iPhone, or downloading to restore the data from the iCloud. One can also use the AppleID and password to unlock an iPhone, by-passing the lock passcode. . . but the FBI had the IT department CHANGE it. Once it's changed, that option is GONE.
There is one AES key encrypting most of the data on the phone. That key is stored in flash but it is encrypted. Some data from ROM forms part of the KEK (key encryption key, also used to decrypt that AES key). Other data needed for the KEK is the hash of the passcode.
To get the needed AES key someone has to enter the correct passcode, then the SW creates the KEK and uses it to decrypt the AES key. If 10 incorrect passcodes are entered the SW deletes the AES key. The user's data stays intact but cannot be decrypted. The FBI wants that numerical restriction eliminated. Second they want an internet or bluetooth interface for guessing the passcode instead of typing it on the screen. That doesn't exist at all. Third they want the AES key deletion turned in addition to turning off the numerical restriction. These are demanded in the court order, not optional.
They also requested the SW to load on the phone although they did not demand it. They said Apple can tailor the SW to work on that one phone only while giving some hand wave about how that would be done. They even suggested using a unique ID assigned by the carrier (Verizon) which can obviously be assigned to any phone they want to compromise in the future (either they are stupid or think we are).
I see lots of problems because people abuse power, and the people who have the most power tend to abuse it more. Government is a dangerous servant and a fearful foe. G.Washington said it first. Eisenhower warned us again.
And Spiderman after them. :-)
The hardware has a UID in ROM. I think the UID, the AES key, and the passcode as a salt for the AES, are combined. The passcode length is 6. Having the AES from ROM and the hardware UID from ROM it shouldn’t be too difficult to spin through possible salts and trying each key.
The boot program is in ROM as well. On powering on the boot program begins to execute, checking the integrity of programs prior to executing them. The programs are signed with Apple’s public key. The public key is stored in ROM. If any signature checks fail the boot program halts and goes to “device firmware upgrade” mode, aka “reset mode”. This is when data will be destroyed. (What that destruction method is, I don’t know. Is it set to x00?) Not starting the boot program seems to be a solution.
That comment is of the exactly same emotional loading as the gun grabbers' comments that Gun and Ammunition manufacturers refusal to pay for the funerals and injuries their guns and Ammo inflict are helping criminals, terrorists, murderers, robbers, child killers, and suicides. . . and makes just as much sense as someone saying that the makers of matches who are not funding fire departments are helping arsonists, forest fire setters, wildfire pyromaniacs, firebugs, etc.
OTOH, if the federal government has already illegally acquired the data they crave by other means, such as NSA capturing the actual voice, text and email data, rather than merely the metadata, Apple would be aiding and abetting that felony by providing the NSA with cover to conceal their crime, and enabling them to illicitly use tainted evidence in a trial.
They ARE helping terrorists. There is no hypothetical. San Bernadino DID happen. Apple is refusing to comply with a court order.
These are FACTS. Not emotion.
It is not the manufacture of iPhones that helps terrorists, it is the refusal to comply with a court order to assist the FBI in retrieving information from the device.
Your analogy is nonsense.
Can't should be won't.
They could if they cared.
But was service in the military involuntary during the first fourscore years under the U.S. Constitution ?
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