Somebody called their friend in the NSA, who cracked the phone in 5 minutes.
This was never about terrorists or getting help hacking a phone. This is about the government being able to grab any person or company and saying, “You work for us now.” Like hell. I’m not real big on Apple or their boss (current or former) but they were spot-on with this.
Complying with this court order means that Apple would’ve been avalanched with them and it would’ve set precedence that the govt. is free to grab any individual or company and get free use of their manpower and resources. I just cannot believe the number of FR people who think it’s OK for the government to Shanghai anybody they want into an indentured servant.
You are right on. In the overarching “ethical” question, or “privacy issue” if you will, Apple was in the right and unfortunately that is the FBI’s tough luck.
But you know, so many feel that is a pro-terrorist view. I think this points to a larger issue of how intelligence has become too tech-oriented. Stopping terrorism is not just a matter of CIA/FBI/cops “sitting in chat rooms” as we used to say.
Watching online activity, emptying phones, etc, is part of the game, but not as big a part as most people believe. Look at Sept. 11, 2001: the plots were pretty much spelled out in total detail on one PC confiscated from a terrorist, yet that did nothing to prevent them.
That has been the case repeatedly. “Increased activity,” “online hints” are admitted AFTER people are dead.
So these guys cannot just sit in offices and troll all day and consider that high-level intelligence gathering. A real pro will tell you it ultimately comes down to talking to people!
Intelligence comes from relationships. I’ve heard they don’t like to admit that anymore because it is very hard to infiltrate islam?