Caution: Weasel-words ahead! FBI director James Comey today defended iPhone hacking again, this time in front of a congressional panel — saying that it was absolutely a one-off case which wouldn’t set a precedent, only to acknowledge that the verdict “will be instructive for other courts” in future.
Comey also said that he thinks this question needs to be resolved by Congress — backing up an argument that Apple has made this week.
Whether or not this case will set a precedent which will be used going forward has been at the heart of the hacking vs. privacy iPhone issue (which you can read about in our handy FAQ here.)
In Tim Cook’s original open letter on the subject, he argued that the court order stating that Apple needs to create a government backdoor to one of its devices represents an, “unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers.”
It seems Cook has his supporters, too. In today’s hearing, Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the congressional panel, warned that, “I don’t see a limiting principle” in the Apple case. “While the result may only affect this phone, the precedent may be there for many others,” he added.
To be fair to FBI director James Comey, he acknowledges that the encryption debate “is the hardest question I’ve seen in government,” but there’s something fundamentally dishonest about his claiming that making Apple unlock one of its iPhones won’t set a landmark ruling for the future, before admitting (during the exact same hearing) that it may be “instructive.”
Especially when it turns out that the Department of Justice is already lining up to file court orders for Apple to help extract iPhone data in a further dozen cases around the U.S. And none of them relate to terrorism.
Source: Reuters
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
29 responses to “FBI is still trying to convince us that hacking iPhones is OK”
Homey don’t play that.
Sorry, I clearly had my O.G. autocorrect on when I wrote James Comey’s name.
If we allow search warrants for homes, personal computers, body searches etc. than WHY is it so different for iPhones? It should not be exempt from federal requests because then you ARE allowing a safe haven for terrorist communications, pedophile pictures and any other illegal media. Tim Cook should not be the one deciding this and preventing the further investigation of the San Bernardino tragedy, he should be locked up!
Shut the f**ck up. U don’t know sh!t. People like you are the ones that don’t know how to send emails yet they tend to talk and flaunt their muscles when tech issues rises. Only if you know the implications what of was asked, you won’t open this mouth of yours to throw rubbish. Go to sleep dude!
this isnt just a tech issue. its a national security issue, with global implications. what do you think has been going in the world for the last 15 years?
the apple component of the big picture of the American security polychotomy may be big, it may be small. i dont know, and neither do you. so excluding novice technicians is extremely narrow minded. the issue impact all of us; regardless of technical acumen.
but i doubt you will understand this until your friend, parent, or neighbor gets shot up by someone who was well aware they could plan their attack in secret using their apple products.
So we can’t search an iPhone because it’s “tech” related? That IS f**king stupid. I GUARANTEE you have pics of little boy peckers on your phone right now and that’s why you oppose this so much. “Tech issues”… give me a f**king break you limp dick pedophile mother-f**ker.
Put another way, you or the FBI can do whatever you want with the phone. That’s not the issue. What you can’t do is force another company to compromise their security for their entire user base in the process. These are two different issues and your comments make it clear that you’re looking at this issue from a very narrow and simplistic view.
DAM STRAIGHT!! Steve you get it! Thank you very much, keep telling these ignorant peope as such!!
While “Connecting Mac User” came off a bit harsh, his point is valid. This case has nothing to do with protecting any sort of rights of criminals, etc. This terrorist has no rights and nobody is objecting to the FBI or anyone searching and/or seizing his property. That’s not the issue at stake here. The question is, does the FBI have the right to force Apple to create a means for the FBI (or anyone else for that matter) to easily bypass the built in security for such devices? Apple’s concern is that you can’t undo such a tool. Once it’s created, you can’t guarantee it won’t be stolen or in appropriately leaked and that could be very dangerous. The tool should not even exist… ever. The FBI can manually crack this encryption the hard way with access to a supercomputer I’m sure. They’re looking for a short cut. They want to leverage the fact that Apple has the ability to install a new OS on a locked device through the recovery mode feature. As a consequence, you can be sure that the next major iPhone release will remove this feature and thereby the possibility of even allowing Apple to help in the future.
This has nothing to do with a search warrant. Apple actually honors those. This is a situation where the government is telling a private company that they have to do a considerable amount of work to create something that the government can’t manage on their own–not just a key, but a lock to put it in. Apple went to a lot of trouble to design a system that has no lock so that no one could get a key to open the system. So this order would require Apple to write all sorts of software just to render iOS “crackable.” Then of course every prosecutor for every government in the world would demand equal treatment “or you can’t sell here.” Totalitarian countries would love for the FBI to win this. The FBI doesn’t care what the impact will be on Apple customers or Apple’s sales. If you hate Apple, that sounds great. But it also means the government could then order ANY private company to do ANYTHING for the government without compensation. That, my friend, is totalitarianism. And that’s why this case is important.
Interesting article, and I only wish that Tim Cook would have hit the same points.
The very choice of this high-profile example – an iPhone owned by a domestic terrorist – is to set a precedent. If the government wins their case, they’ll be able to use that same court precedent to open other iPhones, for whatever reason, criminal or civic.
It should be mentioned that this precedent is only relevant to the iPhone 5 and before (and vulnerable smart phones from other makers). The iPhone 6 series has even tougher encryption, and there’s no known method to crack these phones.
This case, in fact is not limited to USA alone rather worldwide. EU and China are all watching and listening and any step taken will be noted and used now or in future.
In my opinion, This should be a global debate and Edward S revelation made this very important and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
the iPhone 6 also uses the SAME technique as the 5c in that if there are 10 failed attempts it will wipe the phone! It is the same!
Why doesn’t the DoJ just ask apple to decrypt the data internally and hand it over?
It’s win-win. Apple keeps their phones secure and the lawmen get the information they seek.
Theoretically, that seems like a good idea; let Apple to take care of the entire encryption process.
However, there are at least a dozen requests for the same de-encryption from NY alone, and no one knows where to draw the line. At getting info on criminals? Or parties hostile to the State? Political enemies? The DOJ demands full control and participation, without full legal protection.
That’s why Tim Cook makes a good point: let lawmakers – not the judiciary – decide the issue. Legislation is the best way to give this issue a full airing.
I feel bad for the FBI even though I agree with Apple. The FBI has in their possession a device with information that could be critical in their case against terrorists. They want that information, which makes perfect sense. But if the FBI can get into this device, they can get into any similar device, and though the FBI says they’re not trying to set precedent, there are other iPhones they want access to for other cases which means what they want here isn’t just access to this one device. If they gain access to this device and those other devices, where does it stop? Anyone with even a basic knowledge of U.S. history knows the government has wrongly accused people of being against the country before. Republican Senator Joe McCarthy is an easy example of government overreach, but he’s just one example among many. If Apple builds a backdoor into iOS devices, surely hackers will find their way into it. Can you imagine how much money hackers could make by selling such info?
If we’re only afraid of how the police/FBI might abuse this type of information than we must repel all kinds of currently legal search warrants because in fact the police/FBI do sometimes overstep their boundaries. But giving up our federal/state right for search and seizure is not the answer, proper oversight and transparency is.
The device in question was NOT his personal device… (which he destroyed, btw) it was his county issued device! This device is almost CERTAIN to have NOTHING on it! This is a ruse by the FBI to gain the means through Apple to weaken OUR ability to protect our privacy from the government and hackers! PERIOD!
This is about my brain, and what I add to it as my choice. …
I do not know how many of you can remember everything that is important in your life, but I cannot remember everything, so I used to keep a journal. It was a ridiculous thing to do because I could never find the information again when I went looking for it. …
So, quite a while back, with my first Apple Computer, not even a Mac Computer but an original Apple ][ computer, I added a piece of software. It was a random entry, free-form database, in which I could write anything, and everything, and save it for later. And, I did.
It had everything in it. It had light plots from the Westwood Playhouse (Now the Geffen Playhouse). It had my banking information. It really had everything. … It had so much data in it that I started calling my computer an additional lobe to my brain, my repository of memories, which could easily be recalled into my conscious mind.
Fast forward to today. … I can still recall that information, all of it, and gigabytes more, images and videos, writings, and musings. It is still in my computer and recallable by me. I can remember everything now, forget nothing. And, as things get more compact, that information is moving into my iPhone. It really is an additional lobe to my brain.
Hopscotch to tomorrow. … As miniaturization continues, that computer that shrank into the handheld iPhone will become so small that it will actually be imbed-able into my body, truly an additional lobe to my brain.
Anything that compromises my brain, like the FBI forcing Apple to write a worm into my secondary brain lobe, is a violation of my right to privacy. It is a violation of your right to privacy. …
We cannot thoughtlessly, in a knee-jerk reaction to a problem, give our brains over to the federal government, or anyone.
I side with Tim Cook, and Apple.
When did people start getting so fucking stupid? Hack the damn phone and give it back to the FBI – it’s not that hard. They don’t need an always open back door to any iPhone, but open this phone up. The guy fucking shot and killed people… his personal privacy is no longer questionable… he gave up those rights when he fucking shot and killed people. This isn’t a “We the People” vs the FBI issue.
LOL! Speaking of “fucking stupid”… you should know that hacking the “damn phone” and having an “open back door” are not mutually exclusive.
That’s said, it’s always amusing when those that have no idea what they’re talking about give advice. It’s even more amusing when these people who are ignorant on the topic at hand call others “fucking stupid”. Seriously, that’s priceless.
Yes. Clearly that’s what I said, try reading the entire statement before you start the trolling.
I know what you said. However, your suggestion is itself “fucking stupid”. Apple’s position is that it doesn’t currently have the tools / software developed to accomplish what the FBI is asking for. Their position is that such a thing should not exist. Period. Why? Because, once developed, Apple cannot guarantee that they can contain the hack and more than the FBI can make any such guarantees. For that matter, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that this case is not about this one phone. There will be a flood of such requests coming from both domestic and foreign governments. There are already 12 other cases queued up behind this one.
The point being, I’m sure you thought you were quite clever by throwing out an over simplified solution… as if gee, I wonder why nobody else thought of that. It’s one thing to simply asking the question. It’s another thing to imply that others are stupid when clearly it is you that doesn’t understand the issue or the ramifications of what you’re suggesting.
So you actually think Apple developed iOS to be hack proof to even themselves? lol literally lol.
Nice attempt to avoid the topic and not defend what you wrote. Attempting to redirect the discussion doesn’t make you look any less stupid. Now, where did I say anything about hack proof? Apple has clearly attempted to put in safeguards to prevent hacking. The device wipe after 10 failed login attempts is one such example. That is specifically what the FBI wants removed. Do you deny this?
The difference between a search warrant for a home, PC or whatever and what the FBI is asking Apple to do in this case is staggering! They are not asking for the phone to be handed over… they have it!
They are asking Apple to compromise its own proprietary methods that, if done will compromise the security of EVERY current iPhone on the planet by providing the ability to, “by physical connection bluetooth or WiFi” to bypass the 10 try limit! This will provide the means to produce a device that hackers and law enforcement will have to simply remotely break into ANY iPhone, even remotely by bypassing the basic security function that protects the encrypted data.
Tim Cook is absolutely correct in stating this is “unprecedented” and Apple should fight this to the very end! It is not enough that the government is collecting data of ALL Americans communications as revealed by the Snowden revelations! They want complete access to it ALL! Sorry, but this is not the America I once knew anymore… We have become what Stalin and Hitler only wished for!
The excuse that they are only wanting this for this one iPhone would be comical if it weren’t so tragic! This has NOTHING to do with trying to figure out what is in this iPhone’s storage! The shooters destroyed their personal phones! This was a SB County work phone! This is about compromising the American People’s ability to protect their data from not only the government snoops but from the hackers as well!
Comey is asking for power they do not warrant nor deserve! And the founders of this country would agree!
“Those who would sacrifice an OUNCE of Liberty for the sake of security, deserves neither”
~ Ben Franlin
“I prefer dangerous Freedom over secure slavery.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
Maybe you should take a deep breath and re-read my statement. I would assume a known expert would be able to understand it.
Where in the Constitution does it say you will lose your rights if you do such and such? Thank you have a a nice day!
You voted for Trump didn’t you? lol