FBI puts pressure on Apple to unlock Pensacola shooter’s phone

[Spitfire]

Greetings:

Didn’t the government ultimately pay an Israeli company to unlock the San Bernadino shooter’s phone? Why not do that again?

Apple cannot “un-encrypt” a customer’s phone or cloud data.

FBI seeks Apple's help unlocking phones of suspected Pensacola gunman

Phones thought to belong to the Saudi air force member accused in the deadly attack are password-protected.

www.nbcnews.com

“Jan. 6, 2020, 10:26 PM EST / Updated Jan. 7, 2020, 12:34 AM EST
By Pete Williams
The FBI is asking Apple Inc. to help unlock two iPhones that investigators think were owned by Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the man believed to have carried out the shooting attack that killed three people last month at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

In a letter sent late Monday to Apple's general counsel, the FBI said that although it has court permission to search the contents of the phones, both are password-protected. "Investigators are actively engaging in efforts to 'guess' the relevant passcodes but so far have been unsuccessful," it said.”

 

[Merlin99]

Greetings:

Didn’t the government ultimately pay an Israeli company to unlock the San Bernadino shooter’s phone? Why not do that again?

Apple cannot “un-encrypt” a customer’s phone or cloud data.

FBI seeks Apple's help unlocking phones of suspected Pensacola gunman

Phones thought to belong to the Saudi air force member accused in the deadly attack are password-protected.

www.nbcnews.com

“Jan. 6, 2020, 10:26 PM EST / Updated Jan. 7, 2020, 12:34 AM EST
By Pete Williams
The FBI is asking Apple Inc. to help unlock two iPhones that investigators think were owned by Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the man believed to have carried out the shooting attack that killed three people last month at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

In a letter sent late Monday to Apple's general counsel, the FBI said that although it has court permission to search the contents of the phones, both are password-protected. "Investigators are actively engaging in efforts to 'guess' the relevant passcodes but so far have been unsuccessful," it said.”

You know I can see them wanting this, but I'm glad they can't get it at the same time.

 

[Spitfire]

You know I can see them wanting this, but I'm glad they can't get it at the same time.

Greetings:

I am of a like mind. I'd even go so far as to say the government's "need to know" is legitimate. I understand why they want to see this encrypted data; build intelligence networks, who was this guy talking to? How were they communicating?

But I also believe the "public discussion" surrounding this is really leading to "government backdoors" in all encryption. And that makes citizens less safe against 4th amendment violations, regardless of the particulars of this case or the San Bernadino one.

 

[Spitfire]

Greetings:

I thought this was worth a separate post, as I wanted to provide the reference for the Israeli company that aided (or not?) the FBI last time in the San Bernadino case.

Find it here: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-company-said-helping-fbi-unlock-san-bernardino-iphone/

Excerpting,

"The FBI announced earlier this week that it is “cautiously optimistic” that a “non-governmental third party” will be able to open the encrypted phone of the terrorist, who died in a shootout with police in December after killing 14 people and injuring 22. Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, who also died in the shootout, opened fire on a holiday party for San Bernardino County Department of Public Health employees." There are some references to chase in that article, but ultimately, the relationship is denied by the FBI as summarized at this wikipedia entry:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellebrite#Law_enforcement_assistance

In March 2016, it was reported that Cellebrite offered to unlock an iPhone involved in the FBI–Apple encryption dispute.[6] Later, after the FBI announced it had successfully accessed the iPhone thanks to a third party, a press report claimed Cellebrite had assisted with unlocking the device,[7] which an FBI source denied.[8]

 

[glhs837]

Yep, they tried to use the high profile aspect of both cases to gain the moral high ground to reduce freedom in the name of security. Luckily, folks have had time to learn that unlimited govt surveillance isn't a good thing. In a pre-Snowden world, that might have worked.

 

[WingsOfGold]

I wonder what would happen if a Apple execs life were at stake because of a phone needing to be cracked.

 

[glhs837]

I wonder what would happen if a Apple execs life were at stake because of a phone needing to be cracked.

But they are not. And thats another BS tactic. They can get into any phone they want. What they want is a built in backdoor into any phone the company makes. And thats BS.

 

[WingsOfGold]

But they are not. And thats another BS tactic. They can get into any phone they want. What they want is a built in backdoor into any phone the company makes. And thats BS.

Obviously they're not but that doesn't change the fact that drastic times don't sometimes call for drastic measures. Damn the dead non citizen terrorist bastards privacy, his phone and its contents should be opened.

 

[glhs837]

Obviously they're not but that doesn't change the fact that drastic times don't sometimes call for drastic measures. Damn the dead non citizen terrorist bastards privacy, his phone and its contents should be opened.

Yep, sure should be. But you dont get there by putting a back door into every friken phone they sell. Why the hell should my privacy be compromised? Lets be clear. By "Unlock", they don't mean accessing this one phone. They mean that Apple should provide them with a tool to access any Iphone at any time for any reason. As we learned from Snowden. giving the government the tools to perform surveillance on anyone at anytime means they will, and not always for the best reasons. I imagine if the govt tells Apple, "We have a phone from a guy whose planted a dirty bomb filled with the anthrax and have an hour to get it open", Apple would help. ad that I trust Apple in this more than I trust the FBI>

 

[Kyle]

... I imagine if the govt tells Apple, "We have a phone from a guy whose planted a dirty bomb filled with the anthrax and have an hour to get it open", Apple would help...

Based on past history... I doubt they would.

 

[glhs837]

Based on past history... I doubt they would.

Past history is based on cases unlike what we are positing, though. Coming back two weeks after an attack that showed no signs of having larger pieces is all we have to go by for past history. Well, that and the FBI didnt request one phones data, did they? They wanted a tool to access all phones all the time, Which is what Apple has refused to provide.

You can borrow a cup of sugar at need, but damned if I'll give you a key to my front door, codes to my alarm system and the passwords to my Nest cameras. Not that I have either an alarm system or Nest cams. I have dogs, four of them.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Yep, sure should be. But you dont get there by putting a back door into every friken phone they sell. Why the hell should my privacy be compromised? Lets be clear. By "Unlock", they don't mean accessing this one phone. They mean that Apple should provide them with a tool to access any Iphone at any time for any reason. As we learned from Snowden. giving the government the tools to perform surveillance on anyone at anytime means they will, and not always for the best reasons. I imagine if the govt tells Apple, "We have a phone from a guy whose planted a dirty bomb filled with the anthrax and have an hour to get it open", Apple would help. ad that I trust Apple in this more than I trust the FBI>

Not sure I really trust either BUT with another 9/11 smoldering in this guys rag it's not a if but a when. I have nothing to hide outside of financial disclosures, CC numbers ect. These aren't worth 3,000 or more innocent Americans being blown to bits. With Snowden, Manning and the other fruit loop girl Reality Whomever needs to screen employee's a hell of a lot better. Me, I'd start in congress with the ungrateful bitch they rescued from some grass hut where they should have left her.

 

[glhs837]

Was there really another 9/11 in this guys actions? No, not really, and it doesn't make a convincing case when you have to inflate the fear factor to make it. and "nothing to hide" as a reason to give up your freedom from govt eyeballs is weak. That has no bearing on how much power you give the govt to overwatch normal citizens "just in case". That way lies the friken STASI. No, they may NOT have the power to just peep into your phone cuase they wanna. Dont let them. Make them make a case for that need. On an individual basis. The freedom is worth the risk.

 

[Merlin99]

Not sure I really trust either BUT with another 9/11 smoldering in this guys rag it's not a if but a when. I have nothing to hide outside of financial disclosures, CC numbers ect. These aren't worth 3,000 or more innocent Americans being blown to bits. With Snowden, Manning and the other fruit loop girl Reality Whomever needs to screen employee's a hell of a lot better. Me, I'd start in congress with the ungrateful bitch they rescued from some grass hut where they should have left her.

this is how we got the patriot act and the TSA

 

[Ken King]

As a foreign national one would think that the NSA would have been all up his butt from the day he entered the country.

 

[WingsOfGold]

this is how we got the patriot act and the TSA

this is how we got the patriot act and the TSA

There are alternatives to everything. Should we round up every rag wearing sob we can find, that will reduce the odds? What's YOUR solution?

 

[GURPS]

Should we round up every rag wearing sob we can find, that will reduce the odds? What's YOUR solution?

Aye .......

 

[glhs837]

There are alternatives to everything. Should we round up every rag wearing sob we can find, that will reduce the odds? What's YOUR solution?

Funny, I dont let fear drive my reposes. Wasn;t lack of access to a phone that let 9/11 happen.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Funny, I dont let fear drive my reposes. Wasn;t lack of access to a phone that let 9/11 happen.

I don't think smart phones were around back then. Think about it, if Atta were ratted out things might be different today. Thousands of military lives and money would have been saved.

 

[glhs837]

I don't think smart phones were around back then. Think about it, if Atta were ratted out things might be different today. Thousands of military lives and money would have been saved.

If a million things. But they didnt.