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Not sure why this would surprise anyone. The presidents salary is $400K. Of course, there are perks and bonuses, but government service is not an occupation where people go to get rich.


People in government jobs usually have a different motivation than money. Sometimes it's security of a steady job, genuine desire to serve the country, or access to unrestricted funds/info for malfeasance. Any number of reasons.

All good points. For some reason the FBI/CIA seem like private sector to me. I do not really have an answer why, but they do.
 
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Apple should point this out that the FBI still can't break into any newer iPhones that are properly locked (with this method).

Apple is in a reluctant position right now: their phones need to be secure to keep the trust of their users, but they can't really boast about it because that just goads the FBI and "patriotism" hawks who will bring out the victims of terrorism to tug at people's heartstrings again.

Bragging about what the FBI can't do is not the way to fight this. Educating people about the broader issues and why this is a bad thing, IS the way to fight.
 
I'm not surprised unfortunately, I just saw they we spent between 500k and 1.5 mil for a random number generator
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States

"Since 2001, the president has earned a $400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment."

Sure the President only gets a $400k salary but you know darn well that most if not all presidents retire with net worth in the tens of millions. Plus they get crazy perks TILL THEY DIE. And guys like Clinton get paid $50k for a 1 hour appearence. Plus they get immortalized in the history books.

By the way Bill/Hillary Clinton's net worth is $110 million.
George W Bush is worth $20 million
George HW Bush is worth $25 million

But the FBI director? He gets none of this and is in a super dangerous job with far less protection than the president.
 
What a great deal for the hacker...
I'm sure the hacker didn't do badly, but I think Comey was talking about fees (and maybe other costs, such as the time spent by their own IT people) paid to multiple hackers. Only one of the those investments paid off with an unlocked phone.

It's like Veruca Salt's father paying hundreds of workers to open chocolate bars in order to find a golden ticket. Only one of them was successful. He COMPLETELY wasted his money on the rest of them. He should have just hired ONE person (the successful one) and had that person open ONE chocolate bar (the one with the ticket).

I don't understand the people who buy multiple lottery tickets. All you have to do is buy one, with the right numbers on it, and you turn your one dollar into millions. Why doesn't everyone see this?
 
Not sure why this would surprise anyone. The presidents salary is $400K. Of course, there are perks and bonuses, but government service is not an occupation where people go to get rich.


People in government jobs usually have a different motivation than money. Sometimes it's security of a steady job, genuine desire to serve the country, or access to unrestricted funds/info for malfeasance. Any number of reasons.

It's just malfeasance for malfeasanceses-ses sake.
 
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Sure the President only gets a $400k salary but you know darn well that most if not all presidents retire with net worth in the tens of millions. Plus they get crazy perks TILL THEY DIE. And guys like Clinton get paid $50k for a 1 hour appearence. Plus they get immortalized in the history books.

By the way Bill/Hillary Clinton's net worth is $110 million.
George W Bush is worth $20 million
George HW Bush is worth $25 million

But the FBI director? He gets none of this and is in a super dangerous job with far less protection than the president.
What? Super dangerous job? What do you think the FBI Director does?
 
"FBI paid..."

False. FBI doesn't pay anything. Taxpayers paid for it.

Good job voters. You thought you won huh.

Politicians have always had the same calculus before them - when is spending justified, when is it not? People want the government to spend on things they care about, they want the government to not spend on things they don't care about. Winning candidates tend to be those who best gauge the public's toleration/desires in that regard.

In the case of public safety, the public tends to be generous - defense/military spending, police and fire protection, etc. When we're scared, we want protection and are willing to pay. When large, noisy factions are demanding answers, spending money to provide those answers is politic. It's only when those efforts seem to go to gross excess that people start complaining about the cost. Is $1.5 million "gross excess?" I'm not sure - I don't have the political skills to judge.
 
Donald Trump would have got it done for $300,000.

Then sold it to other governments and made a profit. (Or is that Donald Trump would like to think that he... )
 
Surely you don't think the FBI and government care about money and how much they blow, do you?

Our debt is all the proof that we need to see that Washington cares absolutely nothing about blowing money that we don't have on everything we don't need
So, what's the point of having them?
 
When will these stupid story die already. At first I cared a bit but now it is just annoying. Have a separate page on Macrumors with all this FBI crap tired of seeing this as front page news.

It's not like there's no warning about the subject matter, nor is anyone holding an arbalest to your noggin to force you to read. Probably.
 
For $0.3m less NASA would have developed a ballpen that works in zero gravity! :cool:

Except a private company developed the pen and sold it to NASA.

(The Russians just used pencils, but the graphite dust from sharpening them floated around in air currents and got into electronics.)
 
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What? Super dangerous job? What do you think the FBI Director does?

All law enforcement is dangerous. But especially the head of the FBI who is the lead man against Mafia, drug cartels, and other criminal elements in the USA. When you are responsible for taking down some of the most powerful and violent criminals you are a target.
 
What a waste of my tax dollars...

Given the drawn out po-faced dog and pony show and how Apple has openly helped China in the past and everything else, a lot more of OUR tax dollars could have been spared if Apple didn't play their game to begin with. Simple. (I've posted numerous links before, the issue is fresh and still topical enough to be found, and people half-pointed out I repeated posting links, so this is why people tend to re-post links and statements. To keep the context.)
 
Given the drawn out po-faced dog and pony show and how Apple has openly helped China in the past and everything else, a lot more of OUR tax dollars could have been spared if Apple didn't play their game to begin with. Simple. (I've posted numerous links before, the issue is fresh and still topical enough to be found, and people half-pointed out I repeated posting links, so this is why people tend to re-post links and statements. To keep the context.)

show me proof Apple help China hack into phones.
Please don't post lies here.
 
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Do you guys not know that every dollar in circulation is owed by the states in debt to the Feds? They own and print the money and they have the ability to create money out of thin air.
 
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For $0.3m less NASA would have developed a ballpen that works in zero gravity! :cool:

I hope you know that's a myth, right?
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America is being swamped by debt and the FBI pay over a million dollars to unlock a ****ing phone?

Yeah. But since the Director only makes $183K, maybe they should spend the money instead on raises for their employees. But thanks to Congress and the voters who put them their, they can't.

so they waste it on outside contractors, instead.
 
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