Welcome to ECCIE - Sign up today!

Bit_Banger · 03-01-2016, 10:14 PM

If you haven't heard about the various LEOs (US-FBI, UK, France, etc.) hammering on Apple to open the encryption on iPhones, I wonder what rock you've been hiding under. Apple has been pushing back saying they won't (can't?) break the encryption on the phone. DOJ is saying it's a matter of national security. One judge (in CA) has said that Apple must comply. Another (in NJ) has sided with Apple. Pundits are saying it's national security, that Apple should be able to open just this one phone - problem solved, there are no dangers of proliferation, and that Apple is merely fighting for publicity.

I believe that Apple views this in a very different light. I don't think Apple is resisting just to protect their customers' privacy. I see it as a life & death struggle for the rapidly growing field of electronic fund transfers from portable devices. It's about protecting your credit card, your bank records, passwords, and other pertinent data. Apple has been striving for years to tighten the security of their devices. If Apple provides a hack to access personal data on your phone, then the EFT model dies on the vine. The customers' trust that their data is safe will evaporate. Apple Wallet and similar applications become useless.

Having spent my career writing software, I'm also fairly confident in saying the following:
1) It's quite possible that Apple can't break their phone. A good design team would have spent hours looking for flaws in their design, figuring ways to break their encryption, and then plugging those holes. Even if possible, it is probably VERY difficult and will be wandering into unchartered territory.
2) Any hack they make will be either generic (work on any phone) or specific to the phone in FBI custody. If specific, then there will be fields identifying that phone. Change the content of those fields and it works on another phone.
3) There will be copies! Best practices of software development will take snapshots of the software, back ups, on a regular basis. Development tools often require placing the new software under change control before executables may be constructed.

There are also the international issues to consider. If the FBI can compel Apple, then what is to stop other foreign powers (China, France, Iran...) from doing the same. France is talking a $1M fine for failure to assist their police/intel community in similar situations.

While not directly applicable to what goes on here in ECCIE (or any other escort board), the result is likely to have repercussions in the future. The NJ case involves a drug dealer's phone.

Your thoughts?

encognito956 · 03-01-2016, 11:45 PM

I really dont buy any of it. Erick snowden (nsa whistleblower) recently stated the obvious. The N.S.A. has record or every single conversation made, text message, email, and photos already from every phone in america. Why are they acting like the need a back door window to get into the phone when they already have all the information they need. I feel like is a propaganda plan to convince the public that apple is safe from the prying eyes of goverment which is headed into complete tyranny that wants to know everything you do in your life for complete control over the population. Its complete bullshit to convince the public that they have privacy when using apple products. Im sure you do know that they can listen in on your phone while its off. The only way to avoid it was removing the battery because even with the phone off they could access it without turning it on. Apple was the first to make phones with unremovable batteries. Now its a growing trend that all smart phones dont have removable batteries. You dont have to take my word for it. I tell everyone to do your own research and educate yourself. But i will say that the obvious is easy to figure out but allowing main stream media to dictate would you think is not the answer.

Bit_Banger · 03-02-2016, 02:53 AM

The NSA was collecting call records: party IDs, time, duration, & possibly location. What the NSA didn't collect were: photos taken, calendar, contact lists, notes, passwords, etc. These items are stored on the phone, but not normally transmitted. These are what the FBI wants.
There was an interesting cartoon last week which basically stated that the government wanted an Eye Phone.
As for being able to remotely turn on a phone and access its microphone, I'm not so sure that isn't TV fiction. Like the earbud comms with limitless range. If the device isn't powered up, how does it receive & interpret the activation signal?
As for your government tyranny remark, I don't doubt that there are those in government (both L & R) who want that level of control. And as politics become more polarized, w/o moderates, it is becoming more likely. But that's a topic for a different conversation.

encognito956 · 03-02-2016, 03:06 AM

Part of the thousands of files leaked by Snowden was the N.S.A having millions of personal photos off citizens phones. Nudes and all that they would pass among each other. And the phone can have the mic turned on without appearing physically on as well as transmit the data. Thats actually old news that people have been knowing for years already. Its not a secret conspiracy bro. I have a close family member that works in the pentagon that talks about these things all the time. Do your own research on it but like i said earlier dont buy into the mainstream media brainwashing propaganda the put on the public.

forumguy456987 · 03-04-2016, 05:06 PM

Jon Oliver did a great interview with Snowden that should be available on YouTube. He spells out what the government does and doesn't have access to.

Bit_Banger · 03-05-2016, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forumguy456987

Jon Oliver did a great interview with Snowden that should be available on YouTube. He spells out what the government does and doesn't have access to.

Argh! There went an hour of my life (watching Jon Oliver videos). Yes, he presents some serious facts. Unfortunately he also inserts an infantile joke every 30 seconds. Makes it difficult to consider what he has to say in a serious light.

My basic take away from the Snowden interview: If you transmit information (talk, text, email, etc) the government probably has a copy someplace, or at least a record of the transmission. Snowden made no mention of any capability for extracting information from (or activating) your mobile device. This is what Apple is trying to protect.
But if you store/backup your device in The Cloud that transmission is fair game for the NSA. What has the FBI obtained from the NSA in the San Bernadino case? We (the public) are not likely to find out because that would reveal the same sort of stuff Snowden leaked.

encognito956 · 04-07-2016, 01:03 AM

Thats yesterdays news. How conviently now the fbi found a third party that hacked into a back door for apple phones. This made headlines like 3 weeks ago. Theyve been able to do this all along. Take into consideration that snowden fled in 2012. Alot of advances have been made as far as nsa and snooping is concerned. And yes they can remotely turn on your phone. Thats the supposed next step there asking for permission to do. But guess what they already can. Believe me when i say last minute there gonna publicly acknowledge a supposed third party company showed them a back door that will allow them. But its all a bunch of b.s. . Theyve been able to all along