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FBI Director Warns Google and Apple "If You Don't Decrypt Phones, We'll Do It For You"
Townhall.com ^ | October 19 | Mike Shedlock

Posted on 10/19/2014 12:42:34 PM PDT by Kaslin

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution is crystal clear in meaning.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

FBI Director, James Comey, an Obama appointment, does not give a damn what the Constitution says.

In a recent speech, Comey warns If Apple and Google Won't Decrypt Phones, We'll Force Them To

Everyone is stoked that the latest versions of iOS and Android will (finally) encrypt all the information on your smartphone by default. Except, of course, the FBI: Today, its director spent an hour attacking the companies and the very idea of encryption, even suggesting that Congress should pass a law banning the practice of default encryption.

It's of course no secret that James Comey and the FBI hate the prospect of "going dark," the idea that law enforcement simply doesn't have the technical capability to track criminals (and the average person) because of all those goddamn apps, encryption, wifi network switching, and different carriers.

"Encryption isn’t just a technical feature; it’s a marketing pitch … it’s the equivalent of a closet that can’t be opened. A safe that can’t be cracked. And my question is, at what cost?" Comey said. "Both companies [Apple and Google] are run by good people, responding to what they perceive is a market demand. But the place they are leading us is one we shouldn’t go to without careful thought and debate."
Safe That Cannot be Cracked

A safe that cannot be cracked and a door that cannot be opened except by the rightful owner is precisely what everyone should want. It's what the Constitution explicitly states. Instead, Comey wants the right to read your papers and search your effects.

Perhaps it’s time to suggest that the post-Snowden pendulum has swung too far in one direction—in a direction of fear and mistrust," claims Comey.

Excuse me, but what pendulum is Comey talking about?

The privacy pendulum has not budged an inch in the right direction. Not one new privacy law has been passed or even discussed.

To prove how much above the law these law-enforcement jackasses are, one Pentagon official stated "I would love to put a bullet in Snowden's head".

No one threatening to kill Snowden has been censured.

For blatant disrespect of the US Constitution, Comey ought to be fired, but there's nary a peep from Obama.

I suggest we need a cultural change from the top down starting with a p


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: comey; fascism; fbi; jamescomey; obama; privacy; transparent
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To: Kaslin

As usual, I bet Apple is one step ahead of them, and if the FBI keeps threatening, Apple will just make an easy encryption/decryption system for its users, with its elements created by them. It’s not particularly hard, other than creating an interface.

For example, give them a blank screen, then ask them to draw on it with their finger, scribbles if they like, for a minimum of say, one minute. Throw away the first five and last five seconds, then use it as the seed to a randomizer.

There’s a vast number of things Apple could do, that it could not undo or break into.


41 posted on 10/19/2014 2:12:09 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: JOAT
I’s not as if they can’t crack any commercially available encryption, they just want easy access.

Actually, there is encryption they can't crack.

So, they do what all smart hackers do. They go around it somehow. E.g., by tricking the user into making a mistake. Or hacking his computer by installing hardware secretly, e.g., while its being shipped. Or getting him to install tainted software. Or exploiting a security hole in the software he's using.

42 posted on 10/19/2014 2:12:37 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Cboldt
The prosecutor's argument will be that you have to open the door to your house pursuant to a warrant, even if the contents of your house may incriminate you.

The prosecutor can go fuck himself because I don't have to open the door just because they flash a warrant. They are free to knock the door down if they are able. But I am not compelled to help.

43 posted on 10/19/2014 2:24:22 PM PDT by RugerMini14
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To: Forgotten Amendments

Some people have much difficulty understanding this even after being lied to, hoodwinked and conned several hundred thousand times.


44 posted on 10/19/2014 2:28:06 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: mrsmel

Bingo! The law aside, the bottom line is the government is at best incompetent, and at worst rising towards an authoritarian de facto dictatorship.
Unless people recognize the danger posed by unrestrained government, we will never be able to limit its power to that which is derived only from the consent of the governed, AND in compliance with the Constitution.
Right now there are still way too many people very naive about what the government is up to.
They use phony events and scare tactics to get people to surrender their money and their liberty.


45 posted on 10/19/2014 2:34:54 PM PDT by Clump ( the tree of liberty is withering like a stricken fig tree)
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To: Clump

You make excellent points in this thread. I’d like to add that the government still has all sorts of traditional intelligence gathering tools that do not require cracking phones, but I’m sure they can break encryption, too. It may be more difficult to catch criminals in some cases, but that’s the price of freedom.

I’d frankly rather let a criminal walk free (for a time) than give up our constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. If law enforcement has probable cause that someone has committed a crime, they can get a warrant. That doesn’t seem an unreasonable hurdle to me.


46 posted on 10/19/2014 3:06:49 PM PDT by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
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To: Sherman Logan

> “ inability to search data for which they have a legitimate warrant.”

Our 5th amendment guarantees that you can’t be compelled to testify against yourself.
Giving them the key to unlock your encrypted data is being compelled to testify against yourself.
How many DemRATs have invoked their 5th amendment rights?


47 posted on 10/19/2014 3:24:55 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Bomb ISIS; bomb them again; bomb them again; kill all survivors; take no prisoners.)
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To: Kaslin

Fascist pig.


48 posted on 10/19/2014 3:49:47 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: Kaslin
Not without a Congressionally passed and POTUS signed law they won't...and it would still have to pass USSC scrutiny.

This is just a threat by the FBI/DOJ to HARASS these companies until they win.

They MUST stand tall for their client or lose their business.

49 posted on 10/19/2014 4:56:18 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Kaslin
" "I would love to put a bullet in Snowden's head"."

And there's AT LEAST a million patriots that would love to put a bullet in HIS head.

Do they ever consider such things?

Perhaps public hangings will change their mind?

50 posted on 10/19/2014 5:00:23 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: OneWingedShark
If anyone in Congress gave a whit about liberty as originally conceived, they would haul the good FBI front man in front of a committee, with cameras rolling, and ask for the Cell number and Internet ID/PWD for them and every member of their family.

Show me yours and I'll show you mine.

These Fascists would balk.

51 posted on 10/19/2014 5:07:57 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: lepton

Exactly! I simply do not believe ANYTHING ANYBODY (ANY agency or employee or contractor) connected with the federal government says!

I still believe “a little” of what my state government says (Texas). Fortunately, the city I live in doesn’t have a government or a police department.


52 posted on 10/19/2014 5:13:14 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid)
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To: Mariner; Red6
A fellow freeper summed up the attitude very well:
Policies, compliance, ethics... are for the peons.
— Red6

53 posted on 10/19/2014 5:18:32 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: OneWingedShark

That’s why one day we’ll have to hang them.


54 posted on 10/19/2014 5:19:34 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Kaslin

What would be interesting is for Apple or Google to one-up the Feds and make it not only encrypt by default, but to also wipe by default if a “wipe” password is used. In other words, you’d have two passwords. The one you use when you want to use your phone, and one to give to the government when it is prying into your life.


55 posted on 10/19/2014 5:42:35 PM PDT by zeugma (The act of observing disturbs the observed.)
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To: Sherman Logan
There is some danger with communications and files that can’t be seized and inspected even with a warrant.

Yes, there is. It's called FREEDOM.

The ferragummit can't outlaw mathematics.

If someone wants to encrypt their information, they have every right to, and the ferragummit can't even access the scrambled stuff without a proper warrant.

Terrorists would obviously disregard such law anyway, so such law could only be calculated to cast a wide net over everybody. And that violates both the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

Given the choice between a totalitarian society and losing a US city to the occasional nuke, I'll take losing the occasional city.

A totalitarian society is not one worth living in or fighting for. The only thing such a society merits is obliteration.

The solution to avoiding a wahhabist totalitarian society is not to establish some other flavor of totalitarian society.

56 posted on 10/19/2014 5:44:03 PM PDT by sargon
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To: zeugma

Clever.


57 posted on 10/19/2014 5:45:06 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: OneWingedShark

bttt


58 posted on 10/19/2014 5:53:17 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: Kaslin

these are the kind of people the founding father went to war against and killed. remember the kinds of people that souldn’t be allowed to live when cwii is kicked off by the government.


59 posted on 10/19/2014 7:28:51 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Kaslin

It has already gone dark Comey, so dark the govt thinks it has the right to do surveillance on the whole American population. That is a worse crime imo than just about any terrorist act we may have to deal with.


60 posted on 10/19/2014 8:16:16 PM PDT by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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