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Justice Department Officially Drops Lawsuit Against Apple in Ongoing iPhone Unlocking Dispute [Updated]

patent10021 said:
But this isn't news. We already knew they could access that model since it wasn't a new iPhone. Let's stop the BS please.
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#1. This was NEVER about this 1 phone this was about setting presidence. If Apple unlocked this for this reason they would have to unlock more.
#2. The FBI figured they would lose because Apple would fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
#3. Now more companies will fight the FBI is using law from 1798 the All Wrights Act which requires companies to provide reasonable assistance to law enforcement.
#4. So big deal they unlocked an iPhone 5c Unknown if they can Unlock a iPhone 6s.
#5. My guess is that Cellebrite is a CIA front company completely legit business, but all over doing side missions for the CIA or US government so if anything happens hey it was not the USA it was this independent company. http://www.cellebrite.com/Executive-Team

This is relevant from the Twitter history of one of the Cellebrite founders.

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6053155/in-the-matter-of-the-search.0.pdf
 
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So here's a hypothetical that would be interesting to see litigated. The US Government is now privy to an otherwise undisclosed vulnerability in the operating system. Let's say that they don't tell Apple what it is and someone, either incidentally or through some breach or general government ineptitude, discovers and exploits the vulnerability and causes significant chaos. Is the government criminally negligent because they knew about this issue and did not disclose it? As an analogy, if a civilian is aware of an imminent terrorist plot and could stop it by reporting it but doesn't- the government could certainly pursue charges against that individual.
 
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bradl said:
Not that it has no obligation, but that Congress passed CALEA to in fact PREVENT the FBI/government from doing exactly what the FBI has tried to do.
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You're conflating two issues, as usual. Rest assured, the CALEA hole will be patched by Congress after this. Count on it.


bradl said:
I didn't say that they must or are compelled to inform Apple. I asked ARE they going to inform Apple. The FBI is under no obligation to inform Apple, as much as, by law, Apple has no obligation to help the FBI.
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It's quite obvious to everyone but you that the answer to that question is NO.
 
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SMIDG3T said:
It's good that this case has come to a close but as many people have said already, Apple must figure out how that iPhone was broken into. Granted, it was by a specialist company but the fact is, there is a loophole somewhere.
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It's a 5c that didn't even have hardware encryption. The method might be a secret but it's not exactly unexpected. The same hacking method cannot be used on any iPhone newer than 5c. I'm sure Apple wants to plug a security hole on millions of iPhone 5c phones but I suspect their new priority is doubling down on encryption for newer devices.
 
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tgara said:
You're conflating two issues, as usual. Rest assured, the CALEA hole will be patched by Congress after this. Count on it.
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We shall see. However, is it safe to say that you can expect to be called out on it if Congress does absolutely nothing regarding CALEA?


It's quite obvious to everyone but you that the answer to that question is NO.
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I never said that I didn't believe they would tell Apple, did I? I stated that these are unanswered questions that no-one has the answer to. We don't know what Apple will do. We don't know what the FBI will do. We can speculate. we can assume (much how you are with saying that it's obvious to everyone except me what the FBI will do).

It's too bad that some vendetta you may or may not have with me is clouding your ability to look at this from FL350 and see what other lingering questions there are surrounding this case.

BL.
 
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iTom17 said:
Really hope the FBI will inform Apple about how they managed to get into that iPhone. Because it may be good news that Apple doesn't have to worry about this case anymore, but it also means their security needs to be improved even further. Anyway, still good news though.
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You really think the FBI is going to go out of their way to inform Apple of a security flaw when Apple acted as though they were the all mighty when it came to cracking their own device? Why nobody realized others would be able to get into the phone is really surprising to me.
 
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Candlelight said:
Ha, well done FBI. Apple really should've helped. Now they're probably panicking there's a backdoor they have to close. It's their own fault really.
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Why should they have helped? Is it cool if I have a key made that will open every lock you own.... I mean why wouldn't you want to help me be able to access everything in your life?
 
chr1s60 said:
You really think the FBI is going to go out of their way to inform Apple of a security flaw when Apple acted as though they were the all mighty when it came to cracking their own device? Why nobody realized others would be able to get into the phone is really surprising to me.
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Security researchers *did* explain methods to get into this phone. Why the FBI didn't listen to experts is the only surprise here.
 
Who believes the FBI got into the iPhone? Perception is all that matters. If the bad guys think the FBI can crack open their files the FBI wins. A total public fail by the FBI to get into the iPhone would empower the bad guys to do more with the iPhone. Now they have to second guess and the best guess is believe the FBI can get into any phone. I am sure the FBI will never tell how they did it because they may not have succeeded. Keeps all guessing and in this type of warfare guessing wins.
 
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kas23 said:
Obama's just another political hypocrite. People praise Obama out one side of their mouth while criticizing Bush with the other. At least Bush wasn't as backhanded about his deplorable practices.
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Are you talking about the Bush DOJ that rebranded torture into enhanced interrogation? Can't get more backhanded than that.
 
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kas23 said:
Obama's just another political hypocrite. People praise Obama out one side of their mouth while criticizing Bush with the other. At least Bush wasn't as backhanded about his deplorable practices.
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Q. How can you tell if a politician is lying?
A. Alive.
 
bradl said:
We shall see. However, is it safe to say that you can expect to be called out on it if Congress does absolutely nothing regarding CALEA?
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Yes, you like to do that as much as you like to shift goalposts, especially when you're wrong, which is often. Whatever makes you feel better. :rolleyes:

bradl said:
I never said that I didn't believe they would tell Apple, did I? I stated that these are unanswered questions that no-one has the answer to. We don't know what Apple will do. We don't know what the FBI will do. We can speculate. we can assume (much how you are with saying that it's obvious to everyone except me what the FBI will do).

It's too bad that some vendetta you may or may not have with me is clouding your ability to look at this from FL350 and see what other lingering questions there are surrounding this case.

BL.
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I assure you, I see more issues with this matter than you will ever conceive of. You're playing checkers. I'm playing 3D chess.

I can tell you what Apple will do. They will continue to increase security for their customers, as they should. They will also continue to produce products that cannot be searched even with a legal warrant. That will not make them any friends in Congress, particularly after the next terror attack.
 
tgara said:
Yes, you like to do that as much as you like to shift goalposts, especially when you're wrong, which is often. Whatever makes you feel better. :rolleyes:



I assure you, I see more issues with this matter than you will ever conceive of. You're playing checkers. I'm playing 3D chess.

I can tell you what Apple will do. They will continue to increase security for their customers, as they should. They will also continue to produce products that cannot be searched even with a legal warrant. That will not make them any friends in Congress, particularly after the next terror attack.
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You've been playing dodge ball this entire time. Tell us something new that real sources haven't already discussed. Experts (i. e. not you) have already discussed how Apple can make it really difficult to bypass an iPhone's passcode.

Having a secure phone will be appealing to members of congress. Wrong again on that count.
 
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Cellebrite stands to make a ton of money over the next several months with all the agencies that will no doubt be seeking their services.
 
So what did they find on his phone?

Nude selfies, A public bathroom orgy video, Launch codes for some nuclear bombs?
 
LovingTeddy said:
If anything, it is your speculation. It does not matter whether government gets anything or not. I don't believe for a second that FBI is not capable hack into iPhone. You must be really naive to think iPhone is unbreakable.

If anything, this is FBI's experiment on how far they can push tech companies on privacy issue.

I was reading a article about this case. All Apllw need to is create special version of iOS that would loaded into phone. Apple could render that copy useless when Aplle stop signning that particular version.

Personally, I think whole thing is overblown by Apple and Apple used this as great PR opportunity.
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Teddy,

No phone is immune to what the DOJ Claims they accomplished. Not many hackers are going to dish out $50,000 a pop to perform Hardware Laser Penetration. This shows that Apple was right all along that it was not necessary for the government to make it weaken its encryption to get what it needed pursuant to its warrant. A law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, stated "It’s an implicit concession by the government that its All Writs Act argument wasn’t a good one."

End of Story. ;)
 
developer13245 said:
Darn.. Already popped the popcorn....

Edit:
I'm on the side of maximum personal privacy, but it was going to be fun to watch an inept Justice Department go after a company that is naive about government power.
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Actually, I don't think they were naive, I think the government didn't understand who they were going up against. Bottom line is Apple had the money to fight, a smaller company wouldn't have and that was the mistake, but worked out well, at least for now.
 
gnasher729 said:
That company reportedly charges $15,000. That keeps you reasonably safe. Using a six or eight digit passcode keeps you _very_ safe.
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Agreed. Looks like it was a 4 digit code IMO.
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tiara said:
I assure you, I see more issues with this matter than you will ever conceive of. You're playing checkers. I'm playing 3D chess.

I can tell you what Apple will do. They will continue to increase security for their customers, as they should. They will also continue to produce products that cannot be searched even with a legal warrant. That will not make them any friends in Congress, particularly after the next terror attack.
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IMO, the next fight will be across the pond. Not in the US. :apple:
 
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