Apple Unlocking iPhones vs US Government

..The FBI wants us to think that this case is about a single phone, used by a terrorist.

Not anymore …

..If you step back and take the long view on the issues playing out today, it’s hard to dispute Apple’s position. The government used to justify these policies by appealing to a need to fight terrorism. We now know that stingrays and “parallel construction” have been used in cases that had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism or fighting foreign combatants. Now, the government is set to approve rules that give US intelligence agencies more access to personal information about ordinary Americans. The “terrorism” explanation has been neatly dropped. Now these measures are meant to catch ordinary criminals…

New NSA rules allow agency to share data without privacy protections or terrorism links

The plot thickens 😯

..The Department of Justice (DoJ) has warned Apple that it may force the tech giant for handing over the source code to the complete operating system if it does not help the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. …

..The DOJ's latest 43-page brief filing contains an implicit threat that if Apple does not create the vulnerable version of its iOS operating system needed to bypass the passcode protection on the terrorist iPhone 5C, the government could force the tech giant to hand over both

- Source Code to iOS
- Electronic Signature iPhones need to run modified software

…so that the FBI's own programmers could create its own backdoored version of iOS with the security features stripped out and then stamped it with Apple's electronic signature…

Source thehackernews.com

Jonathan Zdziarski A bomb on a leash.

Expert Zdziarski's blog

An indirect confirmation of previous guesses/hints

Apple is the MOST UNSECURE device in the world.

Then all this turmoil around the San Bernardino case is just a fake, an attempt to have Apple be forced to develop something not only already existing but already in the hands of the good G.I.'s?

ASk snowden, about the NSA backdoor )

I tried to contact him, but he was not available for comments. 😯
The good FBI guys should talk more with their colleagues at the NSA, seemingly.

jaclaz

http//www.npr.org/2016/03/14/470347719/encryption-and-privacy-are-larger-issues-than-fighting-terrorism-clarke-says

GREENE So if you were still inside the government right now as a counterterrorism official, could you have seen yourself being more sympathetic with the FBI in doing everything for you that it can to crack this case?

CLARKE No, David. If I were in the job now, I would have simply told the FBI to call Fort Meade, the headquarters of the National Security Agency, and NSA would have solved this problem for them. They're not as interested in solving the problem as they are in getting a legal precedent.

GREENE Wow, that sounds like quite a charge. You're suggesting they could have just gone to the NSA to crack this iPhone but they're presenting this case because they want to set a precedent to be able to do it in the future?

CLARKE Every expert I know believes that NSA could crack this phone. They want the precedent that the government can compel a computer device manufacturer to allow the government in.

jaclaz

I found this rather balanced and funny view on the whole thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjZ2r9Ygzw

The most funny thing is the level of never ending ignorance from politicians. I remember one politician here in Sweden who said "Encryption is only used by paedophiles and terrorists" pissing of the entire techindustry.

Indeed - balanced and quite funny (loved the parts where he's mocking apple lol)

This is also funny and relevant sort of (by the same guy)
Government Surveillance.

According to ynetnews.com Cellebrite is revealed as the mysterious 'third party' helping the FBI.

Report Israeli company helping FBI crack iPhone security

UFED touch is my favorite -)

FBI contracted Cellebrite 15kUSD for the FBI case

www.fdps.gov

FBI contracted Cellebrite 15kUSD for the FBI case

www.fdps.gov

No, it didn't (or at least that is not the related contract).

IGFOTIGF UFED software renewals for seven machines.

jaclaz

FBI stands down

arstechnica - Feds break through