Justice Department accuses Apple of false rhetoric, pooh-poohs privacy concerns
Ahead of the hearing due to be held on 22 March, the Justice Department has lashed out at Apple in its latest response to the company's refusal to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone. Playing an emotional game, the DoJ says "Apple deliberately raised technological barriers that now stand between a lawful warrant and an iPhone containing evidence related to the terrorist mass murder of 14 Americans."
It says that only Apple is able to remove the barriers that are currently in the way, "and it can do so without undue burden". Apple has already made it abundantly clear that it will not help the FBI in creating what it describes as a backdoor into the iPhone at the center of the case.
Apple says FBI case is the start of a slippery slope to mass surveillance via iPhone
The battle between the FBI and Apple over access to the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone is turning into little more than a battle of wills. Both sides are using the case to make a point; Apple posits that unlocking the phone would set a dangerous precedent, the FBI says not unlocking the phone amounts to aiding terrorists.
There have been heavy words thrown from both sides, and the latest round of blows sees Apple claiming that the FBI could follow up its phone unlocking demand with a demand to switch on iPhone cameras and microphone for the purposes of spying on users. "Where will this stop?" asks Eddy Cue. "Some day, someone will be able to turn on a phone's microphone. That should not happen in this country".
The FBI wants you to think Apple is a terrorist sympathizer
Speaking at the Common Cause Blueprint for a Great Democracy conference in Moscow via video link, Edward Snowden gave tech writers around the world an excuse to swear in headlines. Dismissing the FBI's claims as 'bullshit', the former NSA contractor says that Apple's involvement is not needed for the law enforcement agency to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.
Snowden is not alone in decrying the demands being made by the FBI that Apple should create custom firmware to allow it to bypass the lock screen of the iPhone at the center of the terrorism case. He's one of a growing band of people convinced that the FBI is using the San Bernardino as a PR exercise. Apple has been criticized for being unhelpful, but more than this, the FBI is painting a picture that shows Apple as a terrorist sympathizer.
FBI should break Apple's encryption and keep it a secret
At the end of last month, Apple released a letter to its customers protesting about a US court order that could force the company to give the FBI a back door entry to individual iPhones. The case has brought the debate about government access to personal data and the protection of civil liberties to the fore once again. It has also made society and industry look more closely at the mechanics of data encryption and ask what makes the technology effective.
At its most basic, encryption provides a layer of protection for data at every stage of its journey from sender to recipient. If anyone tries to intercept or access the data without permission, they find themselves with a screen full of unintelligible gobbledygook. But encryption is only strong if there are no weak links in the chain. Apple argues that the FBI’s court order requesting a back door into its OS (Operating System) would force the company to create such a weak link in its encryption. This would undoubtedly speed up investigations of high profile crimes, but would come at high cost to the millions of law abiding iPhone users.
Hillary Clinton says ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about Apple-FBI encryption battle
It seems that just about everyone has something to say about the on-going battle over encryption that is raging between Apple and the FBI. While tech firms have rallied behind Apple's decision not to help the FBI bypass the lockscreen of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, Donald Trump has taken the opposing view and called for a boycott of Apple products.
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is taking a more pragmatic approach. Describing the situation as "the worst dilemma ever", the former First Lady refused to side with either Apple or the FBI, saying "I am not expert in any way to tell you how to do it".
While the government searches for an iPhone backdoor, researchers find another way in
While the news about the dispute between Apple and the FBI rages on, security researchers continue to look for other ways into products, not just the iPhone. But as a prominent device it becomes a big target and deserves extra scrutiny.
The security experts from Israel and Australia decided to test out the electromagnetic radiation emitted by devices, in this case using an iPhone. The results were interesting, though they won't help in the case of phones in the custody of law enforcement.
Yahoo joins the club, throws its support behind Apple against the FBI
For the past couple of weeks the tech news has circled around Apple versus the FBI, after the iPhone maker refused to comply with a court order to unlock a phone used by one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino shootings. That handset may or may not hold data relevant to the case or perhaps reveal plans for future attacks.
We'll possibly never know, given the agency changed the Apple ID and there are claims that even the iPhone maker cannot now get into it. The FBI, for its part, has acknowledged that it made a mistake in changing that ID.
popSLATE 2 adds a smart second screen to your iPhone -- and it looks amazing [Updated]
Update: Despite raising over $1 million in funding, iPhone E-ink case creator popSLATE closes down
At BetaNews we get bombarded with Indiegogo and Kickstarter campaigns on a daily basis, the vast majority of which we never cover. Occasionally though, we see something that really makes us sit up and pay attention. popSLATE 2 is such a project.
In Apple vs FBI, it's our freedom at stake
Ever since it was announced that all iPhones would be encrypted by default with no reasonable way for Apple to unlock them, the FBI has been locked in an ever more acrimonious deadlock with the company. In the latest and most explosive development, the FBI has chosen its battle well: could there be a more emotive subject, or seemingly good reason for Apple to comply, than a demand to decrypt a single phone that belonged to a known terrorist?
By drawing its battle-lines in this way, the FBI achieves two things. On a basic level, it makes Apple look unreasonable for refusing, and therefore makes it easy to paint Apple as the "bad guy" who is preventing the "good guys" from protecting the American people against terrorists. This is a powerful argument, and certainly seems to have persuaded all front-running politicians.
Google now sells its Cardboard VR headset for $15
The cost of a standalone virtual reality headset is prohibitive at this point, with prices for devices like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Pre exceeding the $500 mark. However, if you want to experience this new technology, there are more affordable options to choose from, in the form of smartphone-powered headsets.
Such headsets are dirt cheap in comparison. Apple, for instance, sells one for just under $30 for iPhones through its online store -- it works with Android smartphones too. And now Google is also offering Cardboard, at an even lower price point.
Apple win: New York judge dismisses FBI request in iPhone unlocking case
A New York judge has rejected an FBI demand for Apple to bypass the lock screen of a seized iPhone. Judge James Orenstein ruled that the FBI may not use the All Writs Act to force Apple to "bypass the passcode security" of an iPhone 5S running iOS 7 in a drug case.
This is not the only iPhone the FBI is seeking to have unlocked, and many are looking to the New York case as a precursor to a similar case involving the San Bernadino shooter's iPhone which is set to be heard next month. Talking about the California case, Tim Cook has liken complying with the FBI demands to create a backdoor as the "equivalent of cancer", and Judge Orenstein appears to have recognised that the New York drugs case could be seen to set a precedent.
Mozilla sides with Apple against FBI -- proposes basic principles for government surveillance
The ongoing dispute between the FBI and Apple is absolutely chilling. It shakes me to my core to think our government wants to force a company to write code under the guise of anti-terrorism. Quite frankly, the oft-argued opinion that supporting Apple in this regard is anti-American is not only wrong, but insulting. My soul still aches from 9/11, and I love America, but I also support Tim Cook and the company's fight to protect our civil liberties.
But forget my opinion -- major tech companies, such as Google and Microsoft, are standing up and pledging support for their competitor, Apple. Now, open source darling, Mozilla, is voicing its support too. Taking it a step further, however, the Firefox-maker is also proposing basic principles for government surveillance -- sort of like a bill of rights for encryption and surveillance.
Microsoft stands with Apple against the FBI
Microsoft will join Apple against the FBI and U.S. Justice Department, filing a friend-of-court—or amicus—brief in a case going to court tomorrow. The government wants Apple to create a special version of iOS, referred to by critics as FBIOS, to break into an iPhone 5c security feature. The device manufacturer argues that compliance would set a precedent that would give law enforcement carte blanche with other mobile devices.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief legal counsel, says the company "wholeheartedly supports Apple"—a statement that eradicates any potential confusion caused by cofounder Bill Gates. In an interview with Financial Times two days ago, Gates supported the government's demands. I responded, calling his position a "catastrophic occurrence that demands current chief executive Satya Nadella's official response. There needs to be clear policy about government backdoors and the position with respect to the San Bernardino shooting iPhone". The company's position is now unequivocally clear—presuming the legal filing fits with "wholeheartedly".
Apple, encryption, iPhones, and the FBI plainly explained
Most Americans, and many of the world’s iPhone users, are now aware that a court order was filed on February 16 to compel Apple to assist the FBI in retrieving information from an iPhone. This was the phone uncovered in the aftermath of the mass shooting in San Bernardino in December last year. Apple objected to the FBI’s demands and very public legal maneuvering ensued.
In this article I endeavor to explain some of the key issues that this situation raises, for both privacy and security, as they impact companies, consumers, and governments.
Tim Cook goes off-script describing FBI iPhone backdoor request as 'cancer'
Say what you like about Apple, one thing is for sure -- it is one of the most scripted and tightly-controlled companies in existence. Everything is stage-managed to within an inch of its existence. Leaks about upcoming releases are rare, and there is a tight rein on the media and who has access to its products for review. So when the FBI asked Apple to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter it was hardly surprising that the company was a little shaken and unprepared.
This was a media situation Apple was not in control of. Tim Cook has gone on the offensive in recent days, defending his company's decision not to help the FBI, and in a new interview with ABC News the CEO referred to the request to unlock the phone as requiring "software that we view as sort of the equivalent of cancer" -- something of a shocking thing to say when you consider the cause of death of his predecessor, Steve Jobs.
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