Macafee on the I-Phone squabble

[BaalChatzaf]

Have a look here. Macafee explains why Apple should not give the government a cart blanch  back door to I-Phone

http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mcafee-iphone-backdoor-terrible-idea-2016-2

[turkeyfoot]

EMF is folly compared to cyber terrorism. Efrem Zimbalist Jr is dead and so is the idea that FBI's mission is to protect and defend the US. 

The FBI wants people to believe that Farook was using his work phone to contact other terrorists, not his private phone which he destroyed.

[turkeyfoot]

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[turkeyfoot]

^ From Snowdens twitter account.

[turkeyfoot]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/17/apple-dispute-hinges-on-centuries-old-law.html

"Courts have used the law to make phone companies help the government track and monitor customer calls, to compel landlords to turn over security videos and to force credit card companies to divulge customer records. 

They have taken their cue from a 1977 Supreme Court case called U.S. v. New York Telephone Co. The majority held that the All Writs Act empowered a judge to compel the phone company to install a pen register and assist the Federal Bureau of Investigation with operating the device, which records all numbers dialed from a particular phone line. 

At the time, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in dissent that the All Writs Act should be confined to orders that enable courts to carry out their functions such as enforcing previous judgments. 

"If the All Writs Act confers authority to order persons to aid the government in the performance of its duties," he wrote, "it provides a sweeping grant of authority entirely without precedent in our nation's history." 

____________________________________

compared the government's use of the All Writs Act against Apple to law enforcement agents forcing a safe manufacturer "to travel around the country unlocking safes that the government wants to access." 

The company now takes the position that the All Writs Act "cannot extend as far as to compel a private company like Apple to be conscripted as an agent of the government into performing forensic services on a device in the government's possession," wrote Apple lawyer Jeffrey Landis in an October brief in one of the cases in Brooklyn. 
 

[turkeyfoot]

In other news, the chosen one finds answers for the brain dead.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/19/11071684/donald-trump-apple-boycott-encryption-iphone

"We're gonna get  force Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries."  "How do you like that?" he continued. "I just thought of that."

[turkeyfoot]

https://theintercept.com/2016/02/18/passcodes-that-can-defeat-fbi-ios-backdoor/

What this means to Iphone owners.

The short version: If you’re worried about governments trying to access your phone, set your iPhone up with a random, 11-digit numeric passcode. What follows is an explanation of why that will protect you and how to actually do it.

• 11-digit passcodes will take up to 253 years, and on average 127 years, to crack

• Nerd tip: If you’re using a Mac or Linux, you can securely generate a random 11-digit passcode by opening the Terminal app and typing this command:

  python -c 'from random import SystemRandom as r; print(r().randint(0,10**11-1))'

 

[Selene]

Here is good news turkeyfoot:

Quote

SAN FRANCISCO — The Justice Department said Monday that it had found a way to unlock an iPhone without help from Apple, allowing the agency to withdraw its legal effort to compel the company to assist in a mass-shooting investigation.

The decision to drop the case — which involved demanding Apple’s help to open the iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, a gunman in the December shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that killed 14 people — ends a standoff between the government and the world’s most valuable public company. The case had become increasingly contentious as the company refused to help authorities, citing privacy issues.

“The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple,” the Justice Department said in a filing on Monday.

Here is the rest:

Quote

Yet law enforcement’s ability to unlock an iPhone through an alternative method raises new uncertainties, including questions about the strength of Apple’s security on its devices. The development also creates potential for new conflicts between the government and Apple. Lawyers for Apple have previously said that the company would want to know the method used to crack open the device. The government may make that method classified.

“From a legal standpoint, what happened in the San Bernardino case doesn’t mean the fight is over,” said Esha Bhandari, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. She noted that the government generally goes through a process whereby it decides whether to disclose information about certain vulnerabilities so that manufacturers can patch them.

“I would hope they would give that information to Apple so that it can patch any weaknesses,” she said, “but if the government classifies the tool, that suggests it may not.”

Melanie Newman, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said in a statement that authorities had “successfully retrieved the data stored on the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone” and that the F.B.I. is currently reviewing the information.

“It remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails,” she added. “We will continue to pursue all available options for this mission, including seeking the cooperation of manufacturers and relying upon the creativity of both the public and private sectors.”

Apple did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Apple and the government had been scheduled to attend a court hearing in the case last week in Riverside, Calif., before the Justice Department said it had been approached by a third party with a potential alternative method for opening the iPhone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/technology/apple-iphone-fbi-justice-department-case.html?emc=edit_na_20160328&nlid=53564225&ref=cta

So who in Israel knew how to get into these phones?

Guess the head of Apple looks like a pretty smart CEO...

A...