FBI: new Apple, Google phones too secure, could put users 'beyond the law'

[Binary_Digit]

The FBI director James Comey has expressed concern that Apple and Google are making phones that cannot be searched by the government.

FBI: new Apple, Google phones too secure, could put users 'beyond the law'

I applaud Apple and Google for this. Now AT&T needs to step up and stop funneling their call traffic to NSA's servers. Snowden did his part to let us know about this government abuse of power. It's great to see that his personal sacrifice is so-far not entirely in vein.

 

[Ikari]

The FBI director James Comey has expressed concern that Apple and Google are making phones that cannot be searched by the government.

FBI: new Apple, Google phones too secure, could put users 'beyond the law'

I applaud Apple and Google for this. Now AT&T needs to step up and stop funneling their call traffic to NSA's servers. Snowden did his part to let us know about this government abuse of power. It's great to see that his personal sacrifice is so-far not entirely in vein.

is there any better advertisement for the new iPhone than the FBI being pissed off because they wouldn't be able to just snag all your data? This should be standard with all providers.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Well, Mr. James Comey, you can go **** yourself. American citizens having privacy from you is not going to make the sky fall.

 

[PeteEU]

is there any better advertisement for the new iPhone than the FBI being pissed off because they wouldn't be able to just snag all your data? This should be standard with all providers.

Yes and it is free false advertising and the FBI head is pushing disinformation. The geek world is already finding holes as we speak, including finding this gem

Bad Apple? iOS 8 may not be as secure as we thought | PandoDaily

Karl Kornel, an enterprising iOS 8 user curious about the operating system’s certificate use, has raised concerns this week about its security based on settings used to automatically “trust” sites with certificates issued by governments such as the United States, China, Taiwan, and Turkey:

Never trust Apple they have a very bad history on security and getting away with it.

Or this one that has popped up..

http://bgr.com/2014/09/25/ios-8-security-flaw-browser/

The gist of the issue is this: in-app browsers in third-party iOS apps have the ability to log keystrokes as they’re typed. In other words, when a browser window pops up in an app to let you log into a service like Google, Facebook or Twitter, it’s possible that your login details can be stolen. Worse yet, credit card data or bank login details can be stolen if entered in a browser window in a third-party app.

 

[PeteEU]

Well, Mr. James Comey, you can go **** yourself. American citizens having privacy from you is not going to make the sky fall.

It is called false security.. pushing "criminals" to use these products and think they are safe from snooping.. they aint and never have been.

 

[PeteEU]

And who needs back doors when you have this one..

 

[Gringo allstar]

The FBI director James Comey has expressed concern that Apple and Google are making phones that cannot be searched by the government.

FBI: new Apple, Google phones too secure, could put users 'beyond the law'

I applaud Apple and Google for this. Now AT&T needs to step up and stop funneling their call traffic to NSA's servers. Snowden did his part to let us know about this government abuse of power. It's great to see that his personal sacrifice is so-far not entirely in vein.

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, reverse psychology.

 

[CrabCake]

What Apple is doing is actually pretty good. It used to be that the government could send phones to Apple and, for a nominal fee, Apple would send back an unencrypted image of the phone's data. This is no longer possible. That's a big step in the right direction. Unfortunately, at the present time, it really only helps the bad guys. Until we figure out how to make the technology easy to use, no one will use it. At present time, for example, most people still use a 4 digit pin to access their phone. Such a pin is cracked in fractions of a second using forensic software. Only bad guys and hackers (good or bad) are savvy enough to realize the limitations and how to make proper use of this technology.

As for the vulnerabilities PeteEU has been pointing out, those are separate issues. The point of the encryption Apple was announcing is to protect data at rest (that is, data that's just sitting on the phone). The weaknesses PeteEU is pointing out are in regards to data in use (data actually being accessed by the phone). These are different concerns unrelated to the data at rest concerns covered by Apple's encryption announcement.

To put it in context:

Case 1. You are an activist at some rally. You are arrested, but not before you turned off your phone. The government wants to look through your phone to gain intel on your activist organization.
Case 2. You are a suspect in an investigation, a government agency decides to covertly monitor your communications.

Case 1 above is what Apple's announcement is about. It used to be that the government could send your phone in to Apple and they would send back an unencrypted image of the data. This would reveal all of your pictures, text, contacts, etc. They could no longer do that, the government will have to break the encryption themselves. If your passcode was of the default difficulty (4 numbers) then this will take them a fraction of a second. If it was complex it may be unbreakable or so costly that their resources are better spent pursuing some other lead.

Case 2 above has nothing to do with what Apple announced. That remains one of the most pressing challenges of privacy in the modern age and Apple was not pretending they solved it.

 

[Phys251]

FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

Edward Snowden, you truly have changed the game forever.

FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones - The Washington Post

"Apple has said that its new encryption is not intended to specifically hinder law enforcement but to improve device security against any potential intruder."​

Did anyone else get a chuckle out of that line?

 

[jamesrage]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

Edward Snowden, you truly have changed the game forever.

FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones - The Washington Post

"Apple has said that its new encryption is not intended to specifically hinder law enforcement but to improve device security against any potential intruder."​

Did anyone else get a chuckle out of that line?

Nice to see companies actually somewhat concerned about their consumers privacy. I say somewhat because if it wasn't for heroes like Snowden they would still be making devices easy for traitors in government who wipe their ass with our 4th amendment rights.

 

[Zyphlin]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

I have no issue with this.

If the government wants to know what's one someones phone then they can get a warrant for that phone and then search it.

There's no reason that Apple or Google needs to have access to all the information on my phone.

 

[grip]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

One of the reasons I don't use as many Google products is because of their data gathering and snoopware. Ads targeted for my age, past searches and demographic, popping up on every other webpage, kind of creeps me out.

 

[Deuce]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

One of the reasons I don't use as many Google products is because of their data gathering and snoopware. Ads targeted for my age, past searches and demographic, popping up on every other webpage, kind of creeps me out.

Yeah. Taking information you have volunteered and using it to direct you to products you might enjoy seems so bizarre!

 

[blackjack50]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

Yeah. Taking information you have volunteered and using it to direct you to products you might enjoy seems so bizarre!

Look at this way. It is the equivalent of a salesmen going through your garbage to sell you things. Wouldn't that bother you? And on top of that, the salesmen is paying your garbage man to send him information that is supposed to be "secure" like your credit card number. And then the salesman leaves that number in plain view in his store with your details on it. All the while people know this and will take that information and use it to do all sorts of things.

impossible outside of a computer, but not in cyber land.

 

[Deuce]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

Look at this way. It is the equivalent of a salesmen going through your garbage to sell you things. Wouldn't that bother you? And on top of that, the salesmen is paying your garbage man to send him information that is supposed to be "secure" like your credit card number. And then the salesman leaves that number in plain view in his store with your details on it. All the while people know this and will take that information and use it to do all sorts of things.

impossible outside of a computer, but not in cyber land.

It is not equivalent to that, no.

 

[blackjack50]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

It is not equivalent to that, no.

It is. Your information is just "thrown away" when you put it in the trash can. How is that different? The dumpster diving salesman is the exact same.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yes and it is free false advertising and the FBI head is pushing disinformation. The geek world is already finding holes as we speak, including finding this gem

Bad Apple? iOS 8 may not be as secure as we thought | PandoDaily



Never trust Apple they have a very bad history on security and getting away with it.

Or this one that has popped up..

iOS 8 Security Flaw: Third-party browsers can log keystrokes | BGR

Are you kidding me? Your biggest Apple IOS security flaw example is that using third party application software may expose you to more risk? That is like saying that adding after-market accessories may make your vehicle less safe.

 

[jamesrage]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

One of the reasons I don't use as many Google products is because of their data gathering and snoopware. Ads targeted for my age, past searches and demographic, popping up on every other webpage, kind of creeps me out.

I refer to their browser as snitch-ware and refuse to use it. Firefox seems to be going down that road.Although with firefox you can go into about:config and disable some **** so that when some opens a new tab or start to type some stuff your previous web browsing activities don't show up.

 

[grip]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

Yeah. Taking information you have volunteered and using it to direct you to products you might enjoy seems so bizarre!

I didn't volunteer for anyone to track my surfing habits? They do it without my direct approval. And they almost never guess what I want correctly, nor do they really care, except for making a profit off me.

I refer to their browser as snitch-ware and refuse to use it. Firefox seems to be going down that road.Although with firefox you can go into about:config and disable some **** so that when some opens a new tab or start to type some stuff your previous web browsing activities don't show up.

I've used Firefox and previously Netscape for years, because they were safer than IE and it's unsecured code. But Google Chrome is a nightmare with the popups and tracking, and that includes most of their freeware. I'm not doing anything that I care if people know about, but it's just not good customer service to use technology to be abusive. And they've cornered the market on searches, while most attempts to block tracking cookies and other digital snooping prevents 'form fill outs, auto log-in's, site preferences' and other desirable qualities.

 

[fmw]

Do I assume correctly that, because I don't use cell phones, I am beyond the law?

 

[grip]

Do I assume correctly that, because I don't use cell phones, I am beyond the law?

Beyond unlawful search and seizures, as provided by the Constitution, for individual privacy.

 

[Deuce]

Re: FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones

It is. Your information is just "thrown away" when you put it in the trash can. How is that different? The dumpster diving salesman is the exact same.

It's really not. When you type things into a Google search engine, you are sending that to Google. "Hey, I want to know about this!" They keep track of that. When you download one of their apps, they know you are interested in what that app does. And they tell you "hey, this app will pay attention to certain things you do. Here's a list of things it will access." And then you click "I accept."

 

[fmw]

Beyond unlawful search and seizures, as provided by the Constitution, for individual privacy.

My point was that it seems nuts to consider someone outside the law because they use an electronic gadget that can't be hacked. I'm certainly pro law enforcement and I have no problem with concepts that will make their job more effective. But I am also pro privacy. I am uncomfortable with my personal information being in someone's database unless I put it there. I have a powerful set of scanners for my computer systems that I use daily. I don't use social websites for the same reason. I'm a moral, law abiding citizen who normally just wants to be left alone. I don't consider that being outside the law.

 

[EnigmaO01]

The FBI director James Comey has expressed concern that Apple and Google are making phones that cannot be searched by the government.

FBI: new Apple, Google phones too secure, could put users 'beyond the law'

I applaud Apple and Google for this. Now AT&T needs to step up and stop funneling their call traffic to NSA's servers. Snowden did his part to let us know about this government abuse of power. It's great to see that his personal sacrifice is so-far not entirely in vein.

My guess is organized crime will be their best customers. Before AFTER an arrest and a warrant was issued the phones were a gift to law enforcement to gather evidence. What now?

 

[radcen]

Do I assume correctly that, because I don't use cell phones, I am beyond the law?

Should you ever find yourself in an interrogation room as a suspect for a crime, your lack of connectivity will be viewed as suspicious. Seriously.