[conspire] Order to Compel Apple to Assist With SB Shooter Unlock

[Ross Bernheim]

Rick,

Having spent some time inside the intel community in a number of jobs, I
can attest to a large number of people having limited vision and knowledge/
skill sets. This leads many to want to take ‘easy’ solutions ratchet than the 
correct one.

Having Apple or another tech company break encryption so you can get 
access to the contents in clear text is such a shortcut and the quick and 
lazy way to do it. The implications of this are much worse than the value
of any intelligence they might gain.

This instance also show that the appeal to hypothetical, emotionally charged
sensationalist, worse case possible scenarios to justify taking the shortcut
doesn’t yield results worth the compromises to ethics, laws, individual rights
and security.

Ross


> On Apr 15, 2016, at 3:20 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> 
> Back on Feb. 18, I wrote:
> 
>> US Assistant AG Eileen Decker is quoted as saying 'We have made a solemn
>> commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone
>> unturned as we gather as much information and evidence as possible.'
>> Evidence in what case, Ms. Decker?  Are you prosecuting the corpses of
>> Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik?  This does nothing for the
>> 14 victims and their families; it's just a Federal fishing expedition
>> where they don't even know what they're looking for but just want to
>> dragnet a bunch of data to trace connections and see what they can dig
>> up.  (I'm not necessarily opposed to them doing so; I just find the
>> doublespeak tiresome.)
> 
> So, after all that:
> 
> 1.  FBI dropped the 'Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in
> Search' legal action
> (https://cryptome.org/2016/04/usg-apple-madc-006.pdf) and bought
> outsourced iPhone 5c unlocking services from an unnamed 'international
> firm':  https://cryptome.org/2016/03/usg-apple-209.pdf
> 
> 2.  Recently, FBI admitted to CBS News that, er, sorry, there was
> nothing of interest on the 'phone.
> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/source-nothing-significant-found-on-san-bernardino-iphone/
> 
> 3.  Despite a legally mandated disclosure process called the
> Vulnerabilities Equities Process that requires government agencies to
> disclose vulnerabilities discovered by government agencies because, duh,
> other agencies and people will also need to fix them, FBI seemingly
> _cannot_ do so in this case, because the unnamed 'international firm' 
> never disclosed the crack, only sold its services using it.
> http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-encryption-whitehouse-idUSKCN0XB05D
> FBI chief James Comey claims the crack works only on model 5C running iOS 9.
> http://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-hired-professional-hackers-in-san-bernardino-iphone-cracking-case/
> 
> Persistent Internet rumour claimed the 'international firm' was Israeli
> company Cellebrite.  Bruce Schneier has cited reasons why he doubts this:
> https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/03/fbi_vs_apple_wh.html
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, similar cases keep coming up and the notion of compelling
> technology companies to 'assist' law enforcement (including broad and
> sweeping orders under the 1789 All Writs Act) seems to be gaining
> traction, with the limits of the 'assistance' to be determined by
> courtroom gladiatoral contests.
> http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report-fbi-pushes-apple-on-iphone-access-in-two-more-cases-2200661
> 
> 
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