Apple v FBI/DOJ Court Order
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Posted on 02/29/2016 12:16:29 PM PST by Swordmaker
Tomorrow, Apple will make its case before Congress, as General Counsel Bruce Sewell gives testimony to the House Judiciary Committee at 1PM ET. It's Apple's first appearance before Congress since the company received an order to break security measures on a phone linked to the San Bernardino attacks, and Sewell may be facing a skeptical crowd. He'll be joined by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who has been an outspoken critic of the company's encryption policies, as well as a number of House representatives who have been vocal supporters of the FBI's position in the past. FBI Director James Comey will also appear before the committee, although he will appear on a separate panel.
Sewell submitted his prepared opening statement to the panel earlier today, and it is reproduced in full below:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's my pleasure to appear before you and the Committee today on behalf of Apple. We appreciate your invitation and the opportunity to be part of the discussion on this important issue which centers on the civil liberties at the foundation of our country.
I want to repeat something we have said since the beginning — that the victims and families of the San Bernardino attacks have our deepest sympathies and we strongly agree that justice should be served. Apple has no sympathy for terrorists.
We have the utmost respect for law enforcement and share their goal of creating a safer world. We have a team of dedicated professionals that are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to assist law enforcement. When the FBI came to us in the immediate aftermath of the San Bernardino attacks, we gave all the information we had related to their investigation. And we went beyond that by making Apple engineers available to advise them on a number of additional investigative options.
But we now find ourselves at the center of an extraordinary circumstance. The FBI has asked a Court to order us to give them something we don’t have. To create an operating system that does not exist — because it would be too dangerous. They are asking for a backdoor into the iPhone — specifically to build a software tool that can break the encryption system which protects personal information on every iPhone.
As we have told them — and as we have told the American public — building that software tool would not affect just one iPhone. It would weaken the security for all of them. In fact, just last week Director Comey agreed that the FBI would likely use this precedent in other cases involving other phones. District Attorney Vance has also said he would absolutely plan to use this on over 175 phones. We can all agree this is not about access to just one iPhone.
The FBI is asking Apple to weaken the security of our products. Hackers and cyber criminals could use this to wreak havoc on our privacy and personal safety. It would set a dangerous precedent for government intrusion on the privacy and safety of its citizens.
Hundreds of millions of law-abiding people trust Apple’s products with the most intimate details of their daily lives – photos, private conversations, health data, financial accounts, and information about the user's location as well as the location of their friends and families. Some of you might have an iPhone in your pocket right now, and if you think about it, there's probably more information stored on that iPhone than a thief could steal by breaking into your house. The only way we know to protect that data is through strong encryption.
Every day, over a trillion transactions occur safely over the Internet as a result of encrypted communications. These range from online banking and credit card transactions to the exchange of healthcare records, ideas that will change the world for the better, and communications between loved ones. The US government has spent tens of millions of dollars through the Open Technology Fund and other US government programs to fund strong encryption. The Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, convened by President Obama, urged the US government to fully support and not in any way subvert, undermine, weaken, or make vulnerable generally available commercial software.
Encryption is a good thing, a necessary thing. We have been using it in our products for over a decade. As attacks on our customers’ data become increasingly sophisticated, the tools we use to defend against them must get stronger too. Weakening encryption will only hurt consumers and other well-meaning users who rely on companies like Apple to protect their personal information.
Today’s hearing is titled Balancing Americans’ Security and Privacy. We believe we can, and we must, have both. Protecting our data with encryption and other methods preserves our privacy and it keeps people safe.
The American people deserve an honest conversation around the important questions stemming from the FBI’s current demand:
Do we want to put a limit on the technology that protects our data, and therefore our privacy and our safety, in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks? Should the FBI be allowed to stop Apple, or any company, from offering the American people the safest and most secure product it can make?
Should the FBI have the right to compel a company to produce a product it doesn't already make, to the FBI’s exact specifications and for the FBI’s use?
We believe that each of these questions deserves a healthy discussion, and any decision should be made after a thoughtful and honest consideration of the facts.
Most importantly, the decisions should be made by you and your colleagues as representatives of the people, rather than through a warrant request based on a 220 year- old-statute.
At Apple, we are ready to have this conversation. The feedback and support we're hearing indicate to us that the American people are ready, too.
We feel strongly that our customers, their families, their friends and their neighbors will be better protected from thieves and terrorists if we can offer the very best protections for their data. And at the same time, the freedoms and liberties we all cherish will be more secure.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to answering your questions.
All those words to express:
“Screw you ya fascists.”
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I’m on board with Apple. Sorry, Donald.
Deliberately misleading statement verging on outright lie.
Every time they recompile, it is a "new operating system". It is something that "does not exist" until they hit the "enter" key.
Worth repeating...
Perfect Response!
Because it left out the snarky detail I’d have included.
“We gave you the instructions you needed to access the data you sought, and instead, you locked yourselves out.”
You're wrong. The FBI wants Apple to build something that doesn't exist. Therefore, it's something Apple doesn't have. A form of forced slavery, demanding something to be built, to use against their own future well-being.
Again, pointing out irony that a Homosexual ran company doesn't appreciate "back doors", this is not at all accurate.
The removal of the "number of tries" does not constitute a "back door." Most people think of a "back door" as some sort of code or routine in the existing code that you can exploit to get through system security.
That is not at all what they have asked to be created, and it is once again misleading, verging on outright lying to assert that what they are asking for will be used on anyone's phone absent a court order.
This here is where Apple needs to be bitchslapped for deliberately trying to mislead the public in an effort to protect their marketing strategy and profit motive.
Apple is lying to the public, and it needs to be called out on it's lying.
So what does Apple allegedly have then?
They built it to be unbreakable, so “we can’t break it and don’t have the tools to” is a valid reply.
Just like a bank safe manufacturer saying “you can’t get in without the combination - just as we intended”. They’re in the business of ensuring security; admitting and facilitating cracking their security destroys their own business model and reputation.
No, Apple can’t just unlock it. Craving it would take an enormous effort they should not be compelled to. And if they do crack it, every jurisdiction well be initiating them with orders to crack other phones.
Lie.
Apple fights this but bends over the Chicoms. Not hard to see which team they are playing for.
Absolutely correct, but deliberately conveyed in a lying manner intending to cover up the facts.
The FBI would like to use this methodology with every single phone for which they obtain a COURT ORDER.
Apple is deliberately trying to fear stampede the public into believing the government is trying to access *ALL* their phones without warrants, in other words, Apple is promoting an intentional lie.
Ah, but you gots to say it politely, like.
No they couldn't. Apple would have complete control over the usage of this modified software, and the only way hackers or cyber criminals could use it would be if Apple inc. gave it to them.
More fear mongering.
And that is my issue.
Other countries have demanded Apple to allow them access, and they have provided the keys. Why the fight now?
If that safe maker mentioned up thread responded like Apple did, they could expect a threat of contempt of court thrown at them. The phone is hackable. Phones get hacked all the time. Go find a bored EE student.
More of your outright lying, because YOU do not know any such thing. You have zero evidence for your claims and you've been proved wrong multiple times, DiogenesLamp.
And about this time, I would hit Tim Cook in the mouth and tell him to shut up his lying mouth. Once again, he is trying to cover up the fact that all incidents of the government trying to tap their phones would require a court order. Same as it always did since 1788.
Scaremongering is what this is called.
Simple for Apple to provide. Hardly a new “OS”.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/most-software-already-has-a-golden-key-backdoor-its-called-auto-update/
Of course that doesn’t address whether they should or not .
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