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Senator Sends Letter to Tim Cook Over Touch ID Privacy Concerns
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You mean like when you get your driver's license at the DMV?
Most likely the government already has your fingerprint on file and, if not, there are much easier and full proof ways to get it than hacking into people's iPhones.
This seems like a publicity move for Apple and an easy political move. Senator gets bonus points for looking out of concern citizens against huge corporations, Apple explains what they already released and gets a few positive articles in the press.
(1) Is it possible to convert locally-stored fingerprint data into a digital or visual format that can be used by third parties?
Nope.
(2) Is it possible to extract and obtain fingerprint data from an iPhone? If so, can this be done remotely, or with physical access to the device?
Nope.
(3) In 2011, security researchers discovered that iPhones were saving an unencrypted file containing detailed historical location information on the computers used to back up the device. Will fingerprint data be backed up to a user's computer?
Nope.
(4) Does the iPhone 5S transmit any diagnostic information about the Touch ID system to Apple or any other party? If so, what information is transmitted?
Nope.
(5) How exactly do iTunes, iBooks and the App Store interact with Touch ID? What information is collected by those apps from the Touch ID system, and what information is collected by Apple associated with those interactions, including identifiers or hashes related to the fingerprint data?
Exactly the same as an existing password. Standard encryption.
Rest of it is "Apple Policy" which I can't comment on.
This guy, like most hilarious US politicians, is a hack. Just trying it on. Rubbish.
Nope.
(2) Is it possible to extract and obtain fingerprint data from an iPhone? If so, can this be done remotely, or with physical access to the device?
Nope.
(3) In 2011, security researchers discovered that iPhones were saving an unencrypted file containing detailed historical location information on the computers used to back up the device. Will fingerprint data be backed up to a user's computer?
Nope.
(4) Does the iPhone 5S transmit any diagnostic information about the Touch ID system to Apple or any other party? If so, what information is transmitted?
Nope.
(5) How exactly do iTunes, iBooks and the App Store interact with Touch ID? What information is collected by those apps from the Touch ID system, and what information is collected by Apple associated with those interactions, including identifiers or hashes related to the fingerprint data?
Exactly the same as an existing password. Standard encryption.
Rest of it is "Apple Policy" which I can't comment on.
This guy, like most hilarious US politicians, is a hack. Just trying it on. Rubbish.
What an asshat, grand standing on a non-issue like this....
and yet lets the NSA do whatever it wants to our privacy....
Personally, I care much less about Google or Apple passing around digital copies of my fingerprint than I do about someone (NSA!) copying every bit of my digital life and storing it forever....
get your priorities in line, this IS the Al Franken decade!
and yet lets the NSA do whatever it wants to our privacy....
Personally, I care much less about Google or Apple passing around digital copies of my fingerprint than I do about someone (NSA!) copying every bit of my digital life and storing it forever....
get your priorities in line, this IS the Al Franken decade!
Dear Mr Cook,
I am a technologically and scientifically illiterate professional comedian turned politician, so please allow me to forward onto you some stupid questions that my staffers wrote for me - you know, the people who I ask what my password is and to turn on my Google for me.
Also, please allow the NSA access to everyone's Apple devices at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
Senator Franken.
I am a technologically and scientifically illiterate professional comedian turned politician, so please allow me to forward onto you some stupid questions that my staffers wrote for me - you know, the people who I ask what my password is and to turn on my Google for me.
Also, please allow the NSA access to everyone's Apple devices at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
Senator Franken.
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Pretty legitimate concerns, though I'm not sure how they propose, or expect Apple to control how it's competitors, and those that blatantly just copy, implement the technology and store the data... perhaps it's just seeing if it's something they need to regulate before it does end up on every device.
Why I won't buy the 5S and agree with Franken.
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/nsa-back-door-encryption-snowden-leak/
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/nsa-back-door-encryption-snowden-leak/
WHat do you mean NOT True. If I have physical access to the cup of water next to your bed, I can get all the fingerprint data I want. DUH!
I wouldn't. I have misgivings about TouchID, but not because the NSA might get copies of your fingerprints.
As far as the NSA goes: they're going to have a heck of a time making sense of the data from the 5S, assuming they can easily gain access. They'll have no idea which finger(s) you took a print of, or know whether all the prints in your device belong to you, or other family members, or a spouse/signifcant other, or even your pet. So, good luck to the NSA on figuring all that out. As I've said before, there are more dependable methods of getting people's fingerprints that don't require getting into the internals of an iPhone.
The problem I DO have is that enabling fingerprint unlock means lack of any chance of fifth amendement protections. Let's say a law enforcement agency decides they want access to your device and its data. Maybe they think you did something wrong. Or maybe it's not because of something you did wrong, but maybe because they might've done something wrong and you recorded it, and they want to delete it. If your phone happens to be locked by passcode, it might be possible to stall or prevent them accessing the data by pleading the fifth, and refusing to divulge the passcode.
But if you have TouchID, you can't plead the fifth. They can just arrest you and use your fingers to unlock the device and get whatever they want.
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My screen picks up fingerprints CONSTANTLY.
Dusting for fingerprints is a technique that has been around for some time now. We leave our fingerprint data on thousands of surfaces every day, many of which are publicly accessible. You probably leave a fair amount of other biological data in bodily secretions on everything you're in contact with, so it's not just fingerprint data you leave behind.
Well, if Cook came over and dusted my phone for prints, I suppose that's a possibility. But the screen obtaining my print? In case you wanted some information to better help you understand:
What about the back? or the side, or the glass you just drank from? Your fingerprints are EVERYWHERE.
And what is someone going to do with your fingerprint if they do somehow hack into your device and get past the encryption? An electronic image of a fingerprint is pretty useless. You can't take it to the bank and scan it to gain access to their bank account, you can't plant it at a crime scene to frame someone, there's no reason to guard your digital fingerprint. I'm more worried about someone chopping off my fingers than I am about my TouchID being hacked, which is to say, not at all.