If Apple is Ordered to Unlock iPhone for FBI, Some Engineers Might Refuse to Help

[timborama]

They should just write really buggy code... The kind that prevents iOS from booting.

Don't they already, FaceTime hasn't worked properly for 3 years.

 

[tongxinshe]

Bu**sh*t, FBI may not be able to do anything to big companies like Apple, it is still easy to force individuals to do anything.

 

[pittpanthersfan]

Kudos to them. A Snowden-esque sacrifice for our Constitutional rights.

 

[Rocketman]

This gets at a problem with this case that's nearly as big as the global privacy and security pandora's box it opens, and one I'm surprised hasn't gotten more discussion outside Apple's most recent filing:

The code in question here does not exist, and must be written by someone. It is a from-scratch construction of something that does not exist. Something that is not "brute force", but requires skill, knowledge, experience, and creativity.

in Section 1002 of that act, the Feds gave up authority to “require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features or system configurations” from any phone manufacturer.

This is clear and convincing evidence the Federal government and particularly the individuals heading up the FBI and DoJ and the POTUS are expressly breaking the law.

https://backchannel.com/the-law-is-...-apple-rewrite-its-os-9ae60c3bbc7b#.7l487lhw3

This case begs for criminal indictments on the petitioners. Unfortunately they are the same folks who control indictments. Oops. There is the unnoticed defect in the system designed to protect against the government. That and "sovereign immunity" which actually rests with citizens not governments and their agents.

Obama is regularly criticized for excessive use of Executive authority. This is an example.

 

[Max(IT)]

This farce has to come to an end... US Congress has to stop this.

 

[tongxinshe]

If the court forces Apple to do this and Apple declines, what would be the punishment? a fine. Apple should just pay the fine.

And the fine can double every week, until the request is fulfilled.

 

[Max(IT)]

My money says on Monday Apple releases the next iOS 9.3 update with huge security features, which, with whatever happens in court the next day, will be near impossible to break open through any method that the FBI is granted anyway.

If plausible, it would be check and mate. No doubt these engineers are frantically right now working on something similar to this.

It could be... But iOS 9.3 isn't installed on already owned by FBI iPhones....

 

[pat500000]

EDIT:If apple lose... I'm done with iPhones and iPad or any idevices. If they ask Apple to unlock people's computer.. I would be done with Apple as well. It wouldn't be any different then iPhones and Galaxy phones or window 10 spying or broken OS X.

 

[baryon]

Why can't Apple make this hacked version of iOS, and keep it offline, keep it from leaking, and only install it on this one iPhone to hack into it, extract the data, then just delete the hacked version of iOS so no one ever gets a hold of it? I'm sure there's more to it, but I don't know what. Or does the FBI actually want this version of iOS pushed onto all iPhones??

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Are we now living in China with this FBI demand?

Well, of course not. In China there wouldn't be a protracted court battle as we are seeing. Rather, the secret police would round up the engineers while another team "baby sat" their family until they provided the information. I'm on Apple's side here, but let's keep the discourse at the serious level it deserves. To suggest the U.S. gov't is anything like China is mega-hyperbole that only damages the credibility of "our side."

 

[iOSFangirl6001]

I knew that would happen, These guys are heroic. Apple and it's employees are literally at gunpoint to produce x because the government wants it. What the hell is happening in The Land of the Free...

Agreed! Go #TeamApple

They should just write really buggy code... The kind that prevents iOS from booting.

I kind of had that idea. Just troll the Feds with some buggy lousy Code lol

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Or does the FBI actually want this version of iOS pushed onto all iPhones??

Yes. The Administration has been asking for a backdoor in all electronic devices. This case is a backdoor to get a backdoor.

 

[bradl]

This farce has to come to an end... US Congress has to stop this.

Congress already did, in 1994.

Section 1002.b.1 of the CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) specifically forbids the government to "require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features, or system configurations from any phone manufacturer:


(b) Limitations

(1) Design of features and systems configurations
This subchapter does not authorize any law enforcement agency or officer—

(A) to require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features, or system configurations to be adopted by any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support services; or
(B) to prohibit the adoption of any equipment, facility, service, or feature by any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support services.​

More about CALEA below:

https://www.fcc.gov/public-safety-a...ng-division/general/communications-assistance

This was passed by Congress in 1994, and trumps the All Writs Act.

BL.

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

Wow, Apple is, like, so, like heroic and, like, don't tread on me, man.

What a joke.

Top notch PR from Apple, though.

 

[RogerWilco]

The current POTUS routinely pushes away proffered documents that would deny permission for drone strikes -- strikes which often result in the death of innocent people. At least one instance caused the death of an American citizen. He was killed without trial or any due process under law, because a faceless bureaucrat said he was tied to "terrorists".

Given this backdrop, does anyone think the same federal government will simply give up and shrug its shoulders should Apple lose their legal battle and still refuse to comply with a court order to create the software?

 

[gnasher729]

Bu**sh*t, FBI may not be able to do anything to big companies like Apple, it is still easy to force individuals to do anything.

How? I mean legally. Remember forcing the engineers at gun point means an FBI agent ends up in jail.
[doublepost=1458254987][/doublepost]

This is actually really simple. The day they lose (if they lose), Apple fires those 6-10 engineers and suddenly, they become compliant and those iOS coders don't legally have to help.

Completely unnecessary. Apple cannot force an employee to do anything. No company can. They can, if they wish to do so, give you a choice to do something or be fired. Apple, however, has no wish to do so. Therefore Apple can just go to the court and tell them "our engineers refuse to do it". So what's the court going to do? There is nothing they can do.

How can a court force a person to do something, when the only justification is that the person is employed by a company that sold a phone to a government agency which gave it to an employee who killed 14 people.

Can the engineers refuse to write code or outright quit?

Well, try opening your mouth and saying the word "No". Now imagine you are an employee at Apple and your manager tells you to write this code. You just repeat what you've just done. You open your mouth and say "No".

 

[richwoodrocket]

What if Apple said it cannot be done? Who's to know they aren't lying? What if their software was that good?
I guess we would still be in the same predicament though.
Apple should put the govtos on this phone, but oops due to a bug, we wiped the phone.

 

[AdonisSMU]

I knew that would happen, These guys are heroic. Apple and it's employees are literally at gunpoint to produce x because the government wants it. What the hell is happening in The Land of the Free...

it's what I would do in that situation.
[doublepost=1458255974][/doublepost]

Why can't Apple make this hacked version of iOS, and keep it offline, keep it from leaking, and only install it on this one iPhone to hack into it, extract the data, then just delete the hacked version of iOS so no one ever gets a hold of it? I'm sure there's more to it, but I don't know what. Or does the FBI actually want this version of iOS pushed onto all iPhones??

You mean like how they keep iPhone features from leaking or how the federal government couldnt keep citizens personal information safe or their own directors from being hacked themselves?

 

[X38]

If the FBI does not currently have access to the phone in question, then how are they going to install this hypothetical OS update, even if Apple creates it?

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Apple employees threaten to quit if forced to build GovtOS, report says...

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...rt-says?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[MH01]

Good on them for sticking up for thier briefs , though if they don't do it, someone else will. Not worth loosing you job over it .

 

[Rocketman]

This farce has to come to an end... US Congress has to stop this.

Obama would have to sign it. No way!

We have to consider a "common law filing" which bypasses DoJ. Is it even legally possible?

 

[apolloa]

So if corporations are people, and people go to jail when they are in contempt of a court order ... who goes to jail?

If this happened, I think we can be sure someone will go to jail over it, maybe the engineers as they will be under contract of employment with Apple?. They will want to make an example if nothing else and rightly so.

 

[aaronvan]

Excellent. I'm glad that so many Apple employees are giving Obama the big fat middle finger.

 

[aaronvan]

APPLE TO OBAMA: DROP DEAD!