Posted on 03/11/2016 11:12:28 PM PST by Swordmaker
The FBI's attempts to force Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists is not just about accessing information about the attack, but changing the architecture of the device's mobile operating system, former CIA director James Woolsey said Friday.
"The last time I looked into the language on this with some care, it did seem to me as if the FBI was trying to get a right essentially to effectively decide what kind of an operating system Apple was going to have, and that they were not just trying to get into one phone. They were trying to change some important aspect of Apple's operating system," Woolsey told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
Lawmakers and tech companies have long been at odds over the encryption being built into consumer devices.
Tech companies generally say encryption is necessary to protect their customers' privacy in a world besieged by data breaches. But national security and law enforcement officials worry it is creating a powerful tool for terrorists to communicate covertly and putting up high-tech roadblocks to investigations.
The official seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen on an iPhone's camera screen outside the J. Edgar Hoover headquarters February 23, 2016 in Washington, DC.
The agency should not have the right to restructure Apple's iOS in perpetuity, Woolsey said.
"I don't think they're very good telephone designers, and I don't think that is their cache," he said.
The tech giant has refused a U.S. magistrate's order to create software that would allow the FBI to circumvent security measures built into the operating system on an iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people at a county government facility in San Bernardino, California, in December.
The bureau could likely unlock the iPhone, Woolsey said, but the manner in which it wants to accomplish that goal would make it necessary for Apple to create a backdoor into its phones. The company shouldn't have to do that, he said.
Woolsey, who is now the chairman at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, spoke from the Young Presidents' Organization Conference in Dubai.
Willfully ignorant seems to be the hallmark of those arguing for the government on this, and the keep perpetually posting their ignorance over-and-over again and again.
What is even more amazing, is that you can post an article filled with facts from an expert in the field, and they will refuse to read it, call it fiction, mis-represent its content, lie about it, and then blissfully go on repeating their willfully ignorant lies, claiming arrogantly they are the experts, still challenging us to post proof of our claims.
Oops, sorry, I my spell checker corrected her first name.. It’s Sheryl, not Cheryl. Damn spell checker.
Yelling “Fire” in a crowd is not an issue of free speech - it’s an issue of fraud, especially if there’s no fire.
If there is a fire, it’s legitimate.
How about the guy in New Mexico a few years ago who was subjected to multiple, increasingly-intrusive rectal exams over a period of several hours because a couple of cops thought he was “walking funny”.
Or Donald Scott, murdered in California in 1992 because a police overflight erroneously claimed he was growing marijuana on his property, and they wanted to take said property for a park?
Or 81 Branch Davidians murdered because the ATF wanted a “show” to justify their existence, when it would have been simple to arrest David Koresh on one of his periodic travels into town?
Oops! That’s more than “one or two”. I guess I’ve failed your challenge.
The government always gets permission. Silly me. I forgot.
You seem to have been operating under the misapprehension that Apple is in violation of a search warrant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apple received search warrants for those documents they had custody of relating to the San Bernardino terrorists and duly turned them over to the terrorists. Every single one of them. Done long ago.
Apple has been also assisting the FBI with reasonable attempts with the technology they currently have available to open the iPhone for the past two months. That is all they are legally required to do.
No further SEARCH WARRANTS have been issued to Apple. The Fourth Amendment is not what this is about. Apple was issued an All Writs Order, one that attempts to do something that an All Writs Order cannot do, address something that Congress has already addressed and taken action on. The state of the law is quite clear. When Congress has addressed an issue and either taken action, or in its wisdom elected NOT to take action, the Courts may not override that opinion of Congress by using the All Writs Act to thwart the will of Congress.
This is not something that is actually a negative non-action, but one of positive action by Congress. Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act in 1994 in which it addressed encryption. In CALEA, Congress prohibited law enforcement agencies or its agents from performing the very act this Court Order is attempting to do, require a manufacturer to install a specific feature or installation of software to disable encryption on any communications device.
By ordering Apple, a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment to do just that, the FBI, a Law Enforcement Agency, by using the All Writs Act through the Courts, is acting completely in violation of the Federal CALE Act. They are using the All Writs Act wrongly, as it is intended to cover areas where Congress has NOT acted, and in this case, Congress HAS acted and told the courts they cannot do this. In addition, even had it not, the All Writs Act, under case law, can only order assistance if it is not an undue burden. That has been interpreted to mean it has to be something the person under order would do in the ordinary course of business for their own purposes. Creating an entirely NEW operating system that destroys years of work locking down their security would never be something Apple would do for their own purposes. Ergo, it fails several of the three tests for the All Writs Act to be applicable to apply in this case.
Finally, the All Writs Act cannot be used to force the creation of anything new. . . something that does not, at this time exist, especially something that has been ruled by superior courts to be "speech" for the purposes of the First Amendment. That would put Apple in the position of being force to SPEAK government coerced speech, something prohibited under the First Amendment, uttering something with which they are in total disagreement.
I am not going to be so condescending as you to quote that Amendment. . . which you did to make it look as if I am not familiar with the Constitution. However, it appears to me that it is you who is not familiar with the philosophy undergirding its creation, and why each amendment was added, or how they all interact.
"Unreasonable"? Several dozen people were killed in San Bernadino."Probable cause"? The phone in question either can,or cannot,reasonably be believed to have been connected to San Bernadino.And if it can...the "oath or affirmation" bit is just a formality.
See...I solved it.And I've never even attended law school.
And if,once all three parts of the equation are seen to be in place,if your employer refuses to obey the court order they are,in a very *real* sense,giving aid and comfort to the enemy not just of the United States,but of Western Civilization.But rest assured that I understand that if Apple obeys the court order its stock price will plummet after sales in the Middle East,in China (where people have *good reason* to fear the government) and among child molesters,money launderers and other psychopaths,take a nosedive.
And who knows...maybe even Precious Timmy Cook,defender of everything beautiful and holy,might find *himself* in the dock once *his* iPhone is cracked.
The correct answer is "CANNOT".
The perps thoroughly destroyed their personal phones, but didn't bother to do anything to this one. The logical inference is that the criminal evidence was on those phones, and is nowhere to be found on this one. The FBI is looking for its keys two blocks away from where they dropped them because the light's better there.
Well, duh. The whole point of forcing Apple to create a backdoor is to enable the government to spy on people with or without permission.
Wow! You must be psychic!
ROTFLMAO!
Sounds like you need to add another couple of layers of tinfoil.
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