Apple v.FBI/DOJ Soap Opera
was ORCHESTRATED by the FBI
Ping!
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Posted on 03/15/2016 10:21:49 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The Justice Dept. was poised to launch a public relations campaign to pull at the public heartstrings of those who suffered as a result of the San Bernardino shootings.
It took just a few hours for the Justice Dept. to gauge how its legal action against Apple would be perceived by the public.
Not long after a California court released an order compelling Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, there was an outpouring of support in Apple's favor, and little compassion for the government's case.
FBI could demand Apple source code and keys if iPhone backdoor too 'burdensome' FBI could demand Apple source code and keys if iPhone backdoor too 'burdensome'
The FBI could create "ghost" iPhone updates that imitate legitimate Apple software.
Read More Within hours of reading headlines with words like "backdoor," Apple responded to the growing public empathy with a letter on its website stating that the company will "oppose this order." Apple had made iOS 8, which debuted in September 2014, impossible for anyone other than the phone's owner to unlock -- including law enforcement and Apple itself.
But in the days running up to the judge signing the court order, the Justice Dept. had "stacked the deck" against the iPhone maker, according to a person with direct knowledge of the case.
It was a move to thrust the long-standing debate over encryption between tech companies and law enforcement into the public eye -- one that the government reportedly ended up regretting.
Over the weekend, a report in The New York Times highlighted the rift between some in government, who have begun to believe that the Justice Dept. may have "made a major strategic error by pushing the case into the public consciousness." According to the paper, senior officials said a public conflict "is exactly what [senior officials] have been trying to avoid," particularly given that some government departments have wanted tech firms to help fight propaganda laid out by the so-called Islamic State regime.
That conflict was blown wide open when the Justice Dept.'s motion to compel Apple's help was approved by a California judge -- a move that prosecutors pushed to make public.
Two sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said Apple had reached out to Justice Dept. prosecutors in Washington DC to ask for the motion to be filed under seal to prevent a circus-like media environment that Apple could not control. The iPhone maker is known for its carefully-crafted public message and works relentlessly to prevent its image from being tarnished. With the case already in the hands of local prosecutors, Justice Dept. officials in the capital said it was up to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, Calif., which had jurisdiction.
When Apple reached out to the the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, prosecutors were already preparing to move ex-parte -- effectively pushing the case in front of a "friendly" judge, Sheri Pym, a former federal prosecutor for almost a decade, in order to get a swift resolution.
Pym issued the order without giving Apple a formal chance to respond.
With the Justice Dept. pushing for an unprecedented kind of order, the government was poised to launch a public relations campaign, said a source, in an effort to pull at the public heartstrings of those who suffered as a result of the shootings.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is seen in Milan, Italy late last year. (Image: Luca Bruno/AP Images)
Given that it's a Californian judge fighting a case against a Californian company in a Californian court, miles away from San Bernardino where 14 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack suffered on US soil since the September 11 attacks, prosecutors wanted to make this local case affect an entire nation.
The Justice Dept. wanted to draw outrage, painting Apple as the criminal.
With a public relations battle about to explode in its hands, Apple knew it would have to alter its usual muted position and composed demeanor to counter the government's rhetoric.
Ready for a fight, Apple did not make the request for Los Angeles prosecutors to file the motion under seal.
Apple's bid to have the case filed under seal drew some private criticism, accusing Apple of trying to maintain its public image in the face of a case that, if lost, would likely have a devastating effect on its products, its revenue, and its public image.
But one person close to Apple argued that the company wanted to craft a more dignified path to resolve the case by proceeding through the courts in private, without dragging its executives -- who normally shy from the spotlight -- as well as its carefully-managed public perception through the mud.
Had the case proceeded under seal, neither Apple or the Justice Dept. would be able to guarantee that the case could be unsealed and made public.
Apple and the Justice Dept. declined to comment on the record. (If that changes, we will update the post.)
I’m supporting Apple in this fight. The government does not have a right to be able to snoop on everyone at every moment.
And, no, I do not trust the government with the kind of power they want and that’s a big reason why I’m on FR in the first place.
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Secrecy is axiomatic to Apple.
They reveal NOTHING until they must.
And they’re building that secrecy into their devices, recognizing that as a customer your secrets are YOURS and are SECRETS.
Demanding a back door is stupid.
Demanding a “lock pick set” is stupid.
Demanding the source code is INCREDIBLY stupid.
All three stupid because there will be ENORMOUS pressure to abuse and/or steal those. Ex.: a “jailbreaking” group offers a million dollars for the vulnerability leading to “jailbreaking” the latest version of iOS; how very much more will be offered for the “crown jewel” source code and master signing key on the black market.
The FBI wasn’t even able to address the password change within hours of securing the device in question. That’s akin to them breaking off a key in the car’s ignition lock, then demanding the complete blueprints to the car when competitors are willing to pay millions for a copy thereof.
/rant
The DiC and his DOJ. jack booting when ever podsible
No one should be allowed to update the IOS, except the creator.
I’m not sure where that comes from in Scripture, but sure!
LOL
Good one...
If someone other than Apple is updating and changing iOS then it is no longer iOS.
I am assuming that that the ceo supports the terrorists right to privacy......
no matter how many people die or our wounded they will not help stop the terror.
Apple ceo: We have phones to sell!!
This isn’t about San Bernardino! This is the “never let a crisis go to waste” mantra in action. Some here would have you believe that 14 deaths at the hands of a couple of Islamoterrists is more than enough for the government to be able to essentially force an American company to do their bidding and destroy the privacy of millions of people worldwide.
The US Government can help itself by enforcing our immigration laws as they are written today. If they had done that with respect to the San Bernardino “couple,” they probably would not now be asking Apple to save their bacon.
How is this any different?
As part of “the people,” we should demand a back door into the NSA’s encryptions.
Any cop will tell you that, with the FBI, information only flows one way.
I agree. If Apple had the passcode, or a master passcode, the government could demand that, just like they could demand a landlord unlock an apartment.
However, if Apple doesn’t have the passcode, the government should have to figure out a way to open it themselves. A search warrant does not grant the government authority to force third parties to do their job for them.
I don’t have a problem with a government mandated camera surveillance system being installed into every new home, just as long as the FBI promises not to peek at the cameras without a court order.
No difference whatsoever.
(Please read the tagline before flaming...)
If you or I did it, we would be breaking a number of federal laws and facing serious jailtime.
I think the CEO of Apple supports the right to privacy of all of Apple's customers. I doubt that they support the right of terrorists to BE apple customers.
Are there any steps that you do support on the part of law-abiding people to protect their privacy from the government?
I've read Orwell's "1984" (usually referred to as a "dystopian novel") though it was years ago. As I recall, the government depicted in that book exercised the power to monitor surveillance cameras in people's homes. Do you support that?
Do you support the right to install surveillance cameras in one's own home? Do you support the right to install surveillance cameras that are manufactured without the capability of being monitored by the government?
How is having an unbreakable iphone any different from having a surveillance camera in one's home that cannot be monitored by the government?
Open code versus proprietary
I support Apple too.
Because, the phone that the Feds want opened was actually the “family phone” .. but the phones the terrorists wiped, damaged, and threw into a lake .. were the phones they used for their terrorist stuff.
I do not believe there is anything terrorist on the “family phone”.
And, when the County offices got the iPhone, they were supposed to have programmed it in order to allow them control over the phone - THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE DID NOT DO THAT. They just left the phone the way it was and handed it over to their employee .. who did program the iPhone and now they’re having a fit because Apple won’t help them get access to the phone.
This is absurd that a company should have to change all it’s protocols (which protect their other customers) in order to see if there is terrorist info on that phone.
If the Feds had done their due diligence .. they would have been able to have immediate access to the phone; this is all their own fault.
I’m glad Apple is not caving. And .. I’m not even an iPhone user.
Latest scuttlebutt is that the Silicon Valley tech companies, who are all SERIOUS contributors to Obama and the Democrat Party, are bringing some serious heat down to make this case go away.
Do Apple and Facebook have enough pull to get the FBI director canned? Stay tuned.
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