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FBI Didn't Ask Apple for Help Unlocking Texas Shooter's iPhone in First 48 Hours [Updated]
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I don’t really understand what we gain to learn from this particular shooters phone data. Nor do I understand what we need to unlock the phone for. Checking notes? Isn’t anything internet/communications related going to be traceable through some other provider? Google search history, social media, cell provider, etc.
I get it when it comes to terrorists who claim allegiance and have a network, but these lone whackos? Seems like wasted resources.
I get it when it comes to terrorists who claim allegiance and have a network, but these lone whackos? Seems like wasted resources.
I’m very saddened and sorry for your loss. A childhood friend of mine, along with her sister and police officer mother were lost to a similar senseless shooting (by her dad of all people, which is something I’ll never understand because he seemed so loving at one time). I empathize and agree with you.
I think he’s saying that it telling is all, that the FBI would rather have at it themselves, and seem confident about it.
Myself, I find it humorous. The FBI is expecting Apple to be uncooperative.
I'm sorry for your loss too. I imagine too many people are ending up like us. Grieving a loss that we wish we could have prevented. I don't even know why people become so violent. Is there something in the water? The air? Are we desensitized to violence to the point that some no longer have that consciousness telling them it's wrong?
Are we missing the signs? I wish I had the answer. For some it's more laws, for others it's take away guns. For me it's just trying to figure out what, as a society, can we do together to minimize these events.
No it doesn't detect heat. It most likely wouldn't work on a dead finger even if you warmed it up, etc. Touch ID needs electrical conductivity to activate. That's what the ring around the sensor is for. Once you're dead, there is no electric pulse.
Thank you. It was a shock to the whole community at the time.
It never made sense. Because of the trauma and upheaval in her living situation, I never saw the surviving daughter after the murders, so I never got her take on what happened to her mom and sisters.
I can’t say I ever thought much of the dad. Officer Ellis, as we knew the mom, was vivacious while Mr. Ellis was kind of quiet and not very interactive. But the girls spoke fondly of him, so I was completely shocked when I heard the news.
According to this article, which I’m seeing for the first time, he was an avid gun collector. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/04/us/collector-of-guns-sought-in-slayings.html
I have a dear friend in the Midwest who is also an avid gun collector. He’s fanatic to the point he doesn’t want to see ANY restrictions on any guns, even ones that look like cell phones and could be mistaken by children as such and dangerous for that reason. That doesn’t mean he would ever harm anyone. I’m reasonably sure he wouldn’t. He’s one of the more reasonable and laid back people I know, except when it comes to any talk about gun rights and then he gets very animated and very opinionated and very furious if you have even an iota of dissent. But the worst he’d do is grumble at you and roll his eyes. He’s one of most generous people I’ve ever met.
So...I can’t say I think we will ever grasp the psychology behind what makes some people collect guns yet remain harmless and what makes others use their arsenal on even their own children. You can dissect aspects of their lives after the fact and it may seem so obvious. But there are still many people out there who seem even more unhinged who never hurt anybody. And others who seem pretty together who just do something like my friend’s father did and you never know how they could do something like that.
“We offer training to thousands of agents so they understand our devices and how they can quickly request information from Apple.”
Seems like they missed a few key players.
Seriously, I’m amazed, that in an organization the size of the FBI, there isn’t a known pre-assigned national goto expert for iOS devices and one for Android.
48h is plenty of time to get one’s act together (Jack Bauer regularly did it in 24h), so either the FBI is secretly into the device, scraping metadata via the NSA or they are just terribly incompetent.
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You are right on all accounts. Thank you for your candid comments. I hope you get good treatment for your illness and can feel well sometime soon.
Seems like they missed a few key players.
Seriously, I’m amazed, that in an organization the size of the FBI, there isn’t a known pre-assigned national goto expert for iOS devices and one for Android.
48h is plenty of time to get one’s act together (Jack Bauer regularly did it in 24h), so either the FBI is secretly into the device, scraping metadata via the NSA or they are just terribly incompetent.
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You are right on all accounts. Thank you for your candid comments. I hope you get good treatment for your illness and can feel well sometime soon.
It’s OT but every time something like this happens I realize that Guns make it way to easy to kill people for those who want to kill. That’s the whole gun problem. It’s not the mentally sane people who kill others in those shootings. You have to make it harder to get guns leagaly.
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Im truly sorry too. Praying for you and all. I just dont think more laws are the answer.
FBI could be wasting their time trying other avenues.... How do we know he backed his iPhone up to iCloud ? Go direct for the phone, as you know it will be on there..
At least we know FBI now has a new motive: "In such cases the killer has an iPhone we need evidence off, we must contact Apple within 48 hours for help"
I always like Apple responses to this stuff, because they always seem to miss the point, and mention iCloud (which they will turn it over anyway). ok, thanks, but that's not what we were asking.
At least we know FBI now has a new motive: "In such cases the killer has an iPhone we need evidence off, we must contact Apple within 48 hours for help"
I always like Apple responses to this stuff, because they always seem to miss the point, and mention iCloud (which they will turn it over anyway). ok, thanks, but that's not what we were asking.
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Are you sure about that? Then why does Touch ID work even when there’s plastic covering the Home Button? And why are people able to set it up using their nipple or other random body part?
If my hands are cold Touch ID still can work too.
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I don’t understand some people’s stance on this. These mass murderers should ABSOLUTELY have their phone looked into. What if these guys were in contact with others who want to do the same thing?
Phones contain a ton of personal information. I don’t get the people that say “what do we need his phone for? the damage is done.”
You could always try reading the story
thought I did all the way through. So they tried his dead finger, I guess?
Guns don't kill people. People with iPhone encryption kill people. Now is a time for prayers and mourning. It is not the time for discussing iPhone encryption.
Thee's no need to reach out to Apple. Since 2008, we've been selling law enforcement the tools to extract data from iPhones. We've also helped with numerous investigations.
Apple is a partner in this venture and has helped arrange many of the sales, as sales of our products to law enforcement mean sales of new Macs along with them.
Apple is a partner in this venture and has helped arrange many of the sales, as sales of our products to law enforcement mean sales of new Macs along with them.
Yes, of course. All law enforcement investigative work has been obsoleted since the invention of mobile devices. If a suspect has a locked cell the investigation is dead in the water and goes straight into the cold file bin.
And how do we know in this case the phone was even on and just locked? It might have been off.
That’s not what el presidente thinks
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Bad PR if FBI went to Apple for help when it could actually do something. Weakens their political case about Apple being uncooperative.
Not to mention how a violent patient at a psych hospital just 'walks away', and no one tries to find him. HELLO!!! He had a history of being a thug and *******, and he just 'walked away', and no one thought to track his ass down? Or even report him then to the FBI and BATF to block him from buying guns legally in the future!
Part of this is the 'gun culture' in this country, and the want to avoid the NRA and their limitless lawyers descending on them, but at some point, if the laws on the books are to work, they HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED, no matter what the terrorist organization (NRA) thinks. Violent people are not supposed to have access to guns, period. (Until a handmaiden politician of the NRA gets a law passed allowing it)
People don't have to die for the NRA's profit. There are laws that can stop the carnage...
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Nope, not at all. The 'usual outlets of fake news' will just cluck over and over again the lie that Apple protects criminals, and their obedient viewers will eat it up...
Probably right. Nothing will stop the lying and agenda pushing. Especially since our fearless leader has taken lying to a new art form.
If there's enough evidence to prove he's guilty and what his motives were, just archive the phone and move on.
If this is an incident that affects national security, then do whatever it takes to unlock it.
Why waste so much money and resources for something that's not really necessary? The guy's dead!
If this is an incident that affects national security, then do whatever it takes to unlock it.
Why waste so much money and resources for something that's not really necessary? The guy's dead!
Yeah I hear you... Been there... Many laws and processes are broken, it's a shame politicians choose to blame the scapegoats of the weapons, and not blame the efficacy of the protections to detect the psychos who use them this way. Unfortunately, it's not popular to be serious about fixing the real cause...