As far as I understand:
- government needs a warrant so they can gather your data
- iCloud backups are not encrypted because users can forget the password needed for it, losing access to any data in said backup
- if Apple would have encrypted these backups, maybe encryption would have been ruled illegal by the gov.
I'm ok with this overall.
Although we have seen that certain warrants (e.g. under FISA) are effectively blank cheques (both the left and right media have reported this), so I would not put too much into any warrant protection:
https://theintercept.com/2019/12/12...-not-only-for-the-fbi-but-also-the-u-s-media/
(note the Intercept has a fairly left bias):
In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI – in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election – manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims.
Apple try everything to push users onto iCloud. I have avoided it because I don't have a large data limit on my connection.
Apple tout privacy at every opportunity, but this clearly shows that it is not private.
Moreoever, countries with weak human rights records (Turkey) love these kind of weaknesses to imprison journalists.
Regardless of your political leanings, the past decade and STASI DDR and Stalinist Russia before, have shown that governments of
any political part of the spectrum should not be trusted - and once bad precedents are set into law they can be exploited by unscrupulous leaders.
"if Apple would have encrypted these backups, maybe encryption would have been ruled illegal by the gov."
They tried that with Phil Zimmerman and pretty much ruined his life for a while:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Zimmermann#Arms_Export_Control_Act_investigation
Encryption remains legal. First amendment et al.
