Some of those crime fighting techniques included getting warrants to open mail and tap traditional phone lines to listen in on the criminal conspiracies that were taking place. Since people have moved over to encrypted text messages those old techniques no longer work. Those law enforcement employees are asking for tools that will keep up with the changes in techniques that criminals are using.
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FBI Forensic Examiner Stephen Flatley Calls Apple 'Jerks' and 'Evil Geniuses' for Encrypting iPhones
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Yep. Ask the FBI if they want their private data exposed.
Just 2 months to brute force an iPhone's passcode?! Time to enable "Custom Alphanumeric Code" under Passcode Options.
Edit: spelling
Edit: spelling
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This only serves to solidify my commitment to Apple. Anything they can do to keep our data, and our lives, private, is good in my book. Law enforcement has become an out-of-control oligarchy who believes their agenda trumps citizen privacy, all people should find this concerning. I will take my right to privacy and less intrusiveness from law-enforcement and government any day over a false sense of 'safety' and 'security'. Who will police the police?
Maybe if the government were more transparent and had a better reputation for respecting our privacy, and there weren't regular NSA/FBI/CIA leaks about how they trample all over us with complete autonomy, I would actually feel bad.
Until then, we shall play the tiny violin for them.
Until then, we shall play the tiny violin for them.
I have taken the liberty of highlighting the key sentence here. You cannot build a system that reliably lets in one group of people against your will, but excludes others that are trying to access your data against your will. If the FBI can build a tool that cracks iPhones in minutes by brute force, then the bad guys can too. In fact, there are devices you can legally buy on eBay that will crack older iPhone in minutes.
If you want data security, then you are going to have to put up with the fact that law enforcement will have trouble accessing your data without your permission. Personally, I prefer to give data security to the masses over giving ease of access to law-enforcement.
Long story short:
TSA had a "master key" to much of the public's luggage.
Someone photographed it for an article, and published the picture.
Hours later there were duplicates available for sale.
Moral: "master keys" are HORRIBLE security. Lots of incentive to acquire, impossible to "fix" when breached.
TSA had a "master key" to much of the public's luggage.
Someone photographed it for an article, and published the picture.
Hours later there were duplicates available for sale.
Moral: "master keys" are HORRIBLE security. Lots of incentive to acquire, impossible to "fix" when breached.
(shaky analogy warning)
So, would it be okay for the FBI to have the key to your house as long as you can be sure a criminal can't either crack the lock or copy the key?
A key is a key is a key. If the FBI has a way to get in, anyone else can, too.
I love having the peace of mind that people can't hack into my phone.
Screw the FBI. No wait, not the entire FBI and all their employees. Just the few idiots wanting a back door and are stupid enough to think it won’t compromise security.
Good on Apple for not caving in to these idiots.
Good on Apple for not caving in to these idiots.
To say you're completely ignorant to the work the FBI does would be the understatement of the year. You seem to believe that though technology has changed the entire world, the FBI should still be operating as they did 30 years ago.
Here's a case they worked in which the use of technology to crack an iPhone was the key to saving a child and putting a very bad person in jail.
Some years ago, a 6 year old went missing in the southern United States. There was little in the way of evidence in the case and things went cold after a month or two. It likely would have gone unsolved if it wasn't for the FBI and their continued investigation on another case. They came across pictures of another child, which lead them to the suspect in question.
Most of the evidence in this case was digital. In your mind, they shouldn't even be bothering with it and would have left things as that, moved on to something else but thankfully they kept pushing. They secured a warrant and were able to gain access to the suspect's iOS device. What they found were hours of recordings. This guy didn't get off on the rape of the missing child but rather on listening to the recordings he made of those rapes.
With this evidence and more contained on that phone, along with further digital records obtained elsewhere, they were able to make an arrest, locate the child and return him to his parents 2 years after his abdication, and put this guy away for a very long time.
So when you say that they should go back to using "real crime fighting techniques" you're completely missing the fact that the entire world has gone digital and they're out there doing hard work that no other law enforcement agency is doing. They're putting away very bad people and helping to fix broken families.
Here's a great video about encryption that I saw linked in another article.
The problems arise when the law changes and suddenly you find yourself doing, or even worse, BEING, something illegal.
Have we never learned from history what happens when a government has too much information or power? Another one comes along and uses it...
Thinking that Stephen R. Flatley is a little salty because he couldn't crack the iPhone and therefore missed his annual bonus incentive target. 
You want access to anything of mine FBI, read this first
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
After throwing the election to Trump in support of Russian... The FBI has negative credibility.
How does Apple deal with this issue in countries like China or Russia? I can't imagine those governments haven't demanded back doors as well and are generally much more aggressive at getting their way.
I don't agree with creating a back door into any mobile device -- but all it will take is another highly publicized case of a mobile device involved in a terrorist attack or crime and the FBI will get what it wants.
I don't agree with creating a back door into any mobile device -- but all it will take is another highly publicized case of a mobile device involved in a terrorist attack or crime and the FBI will get what it wants.
Exactly. The future of crime is cybersecurity, not sniffing through suspect's phones. Strong encryption stops much more crime than it can ever create. The FBI might want to enter the realm of thought crime enforcement but we're not there yet so they should just stick to old fashioned detective work and legal warrants.
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Then why did they have to pay Cellebrite to crack a 3 year old iPhone? That's precisely why he called Apple "good at evil genius stuff". The FBI has to go to real hackers when it comes to the genius part of evil genius. What does that make the FBI?
So if they have a warrant, as it explains in the link you provided, they can search.