Thoughts on Apple's Privacy Issues

routerdork · February 25, 2016, 12:16:08 PM

I'm curious what other think about all this and governments having backdoors in general?

I've been reading the different articles that come across my RSS feeds. My personal opinion is that if Apple went forward and provided a way I would dump Apple products. But if they don't comply it seems some people are dumping them as well. If all else fails maybe I'll be going back to an Android phone like this https://www.silentcircle.com/products-and-solutions/devices/

deanwebb · February 25, 2016, 01:35:22 PM

Antonin Scalia said it best, that it is necessary to permit a few criminals to hide in order to protect the privacy of the nation.

routerdork · February 25, 2016, 02:31:42 PM

Quote from: deanwebb on February 25, 2016, 01:35:22 PM
Antonin Scalia said it best, that it is necessary to permit a few criminals to hide in order to protect the privacy of the nation.

Are you eluding to conspiracy theory...

deanwebb · February 25, 2016, 02:36:01 PM

haha, no... but I did just read that Apple now has to make itself part of the threat model directed at itself.

dlots · February 25, 2016, 02:50:31 PM

Just an FYI you found one of my soap boxes.

Backdoors are a horrid idea IMO, it will take hackers and other goverments at most 1 year to crack into any backdoor, at which point we are all screwed. Also what in the constitution gives the government the authority to force private companies to put backdoor in their software?

IMO there is no information in the world the government needs badly enough to make it so that they can get into any system, because once they have that ability they will use it... alot. No matter how much they say they won't, or say they aren't.

IMO everyone who told congress that the government isn't taping phones (or otherwise lied in congressional inquiry) should be in jail right now, including 2 presidents.

I just don't see any accountability in the government anymore. Bill Clinton got in more trouble for having an affair and lying about it the Obama and Bush did for raping the 4th amendment and lying about it (not to mention the fact that the government can indefinitely detain anyone for no reason, or blow the hell out of US citizens without trial or notification.)

Otanx · February 25, 2016, 05:58:10 PM

Not an expert on the topic at all, but I see it not that they want Apple to create a back door, but that a vulnerability already exists, and they want Apple to write an exploit to the vulnerability. The vulnerability being able to load code without user intervention. The reason they need Apple to do it is the mitigation to the vulnerability is that only signed code can be installed without user intervention, and Apple is the only ones that can have a trusted signing certificate.

My understanding, and again I am not an expert, is that the loading code with no user intervention (signed or not) has been fixed in newer phones. Also the PIN lockout is done in hardware on newer phones instead of software. So if Apple does this it only works on older model phones, and not the new ones.

After saying all that I still don't know what I think about if they should do it or not. I am just glad I don't have to decide.

-Otanx

icecream-guy · February 26, 2016, 08:04:43 AM

:soapbox:

Another government abuse to hoard the population into the collective, keeping the population in line and obedient so that those who rule have omnipotent power.

deanwebb · February 26, 2016, 08:25:55 AM

And here I am going to RSA next week... should be some fun times there... looking at this from a business perspective, the USA would essentially doom its tech industry to be a domestic-only affair and would have to ban tech imports to make this work. The next logical step would be for multinationals to firewall off the USA branches, the way they do China.

Costs go up. Sure, it's all "made in the USA", but we also know that the encryption is weak and that business secrets would be gems glittering in the dirt, so to speak. Scientific research and tech innovation would have to be done in jurisdictions where IT doesn't have to provide government back doors. Since the USA would lean heavily on its allies, that leaves an opening for Russia, which would love to be the center of a new tech industry. Russia doesn't need backdoors, since they've already got plenty of other ways to spy on their people.