NYPD Chief: Apple Provides Aid to Kidnappers, Robbers, Murderers

[Turnpike]

Apple provides aid to kidnappers, robbers, and murderers the same way Mead Paper Company provides aid to people who keep false books, write ransom notes, and anonymous hate mail by not putting piece of carbon copy paper under every sheet of paper they sell. You can't expect a business to circumvent it's purpose and products to cover every exception, and even if you did, the circumventing itself would cause OTHER exceptions that would need to be addressed. It's like putting a 45 day survival kit under every airplane seat in every airplane. After a while you start to break down the safety and efficiency of air travel. How many iPhones have been sold? How many things have been directly attributed to law enforcement not being able to get into a phone? That is the price of progress, of moving forward. It's like eliminating all peanuts from all products because of the chance that someone allergic might come in contact by design or by accident. It's not practical, and saddly some people die, some people go to the ER, but we don't eliminate peanuts and make a soy substitute to replace it world wide, do we? They are trying to undo world progress to serve a few exceptions. I think it's more about ego and justifying floor time for the frustrated cops and short sighted, self promoting politicians.

 

[2010mini]

Well maybe mr. NYPD Chief if your department wasn't caught red handed ILLEGALLY spying on citizens we would listen to you. But you have already proven the government can't be trusted.

 

[rdlink]

If a kidnapper used an iPhone to send a text or make a call then contact the cell carrier and get the records. It's not that hard to figure out. Other than that what else could be on the phone to help aid police in anything? All iMessages are on Apple servers, iCloud backups are given when asked. Everything on the phone is in the backup. People don't think. This is all just a scam. Do you really think that an experienced cyber criminal doesn't know how to hide themselves online? Encryption is everywhere and the bad guys will always have it.

I support Apple 100% on this issue, but you have a statement in your post that is false. Apple cannot access your iMessages communications. They are encrypted end-to-end, and the keys to decrypt only exist on the phones of those who are communicating.
[doublepost=1457358659][/doublepost]Why doesn't he go after the scumbags who make this product, too? They are obviously helping criminals get away with their crimes, as well.

http://www.fellowes.com/us/en/Produ...ERS&tercat=SMALL_OFFICE_HOME_OFFICE_SHREDDERS

 

[furi0usbee]

Apple provides aid to innocent people and people who want to keep their information private. Bad guys will also take advantage of this, and that's the way it's always been. But you don't take my rights away to make it easier to arrest the child molester. How about getting your hands dirty and using some good old fashioned police work Johnny Boy! The bookies used to use flash paper to protect their "personal data," and you had to deal with that if you were law enforcement. You'll find a way Inspector Gadget!! I have faith in you!!!

 

[carrrrrlos]

Right, so guns kill people, not people with this logic.

 

[soupcan]

Or maybe, just maybe, Apple protects their over one billion iDevice users from ********s like this guy so they don't get to snoop around everybody's private data.

But sure, blame it on Apple for "helping kidnappers, robbers and murderers." Incompetent ****.

 

[antonis]

So, seriously, what are all those guys' higher purpose for displaying such stupidity ? this guy, fbi, trump... where do all those clowns come from ?

 

[pika2000]

By that logic, is the US military industrial complex liable for all the killings committed with the weapons made by them?

Anyway, regardless what people thinks, this guy is under the payroll of the taxpayers. How nice.

 

[simonmet]

So he's saying they could never do their job of catching robbers and murderers before smartphones were invented? What a *******. They still collect masses of data that qualify as tracking individuals and they complain that they can't pry into personal devices?

My opinion of and support for Cook has skyrocketed since this blew up.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Right, so guns kill people, not people with this logic.

Gun laws are logically a completely different argument, and it's disappointing you thought that argument is synonymous with this one. The sole purpose of a gun is to fire a bit of metal very quickly, with the consequence of doing damage. An iPhone does many different things, and as a result of the scope of what it offers, it inevitably has the byproduct of people using it for immoral reasons.

There's a fundamental difference in mentality between the two. You shouldn't try to shoehorn one argument into the other.

 

[JohnGrey]

**** this guy.

At least he's honest and open about the fact that he doesn't give one damn about Americans' privacy or information security. I'm sure he'd be singing a different tune if his private photos were leaked or identity thieves drained all his bank accounts and destroyed his credit and identity.

Nothing is preventing law enforcement from doing their job. They're just lazy pricks who want everything done for them now at the click of a button. God forbid they actually have to do a little leg work to build an investigation. Useless clowns sucking on the teat of the taxpayers.

Headline should read: "NYPD Chief wants to aid identity thieves and cybercriminals".

And if he doesn't understand why? Maybe he should go out and educate himself instead of talking out of his rectum like every other law enforcement goon who doesn't understand the technology or implications of designing insecure systems.

Seconded, and the NYPD is the gold-standard in the cut-corners, thin-blue-line pageant of worthless law enforcement, beating out even the LAPD, which I find makes no effort to romanticise its long history of getting suspect confessions with a well-applied phone directory. The public needs to wake up to the fact that they have long been fed a myth about police heroics. It is not remotely the most dangerous job; being a commercial lorry operator or a logger is far more dangerous being a cop. Of course, they try to refute that by offering alternative explanations for the numbers, or saying that only the cops' death rates include murder, as though murder makes someone more dead than they would be otherwise.

 

[simonmet]

So, seriously, what are all those guys' higher purpose for displaying such stupidity ? this guy, fbi, trump... where do all those clowns come from ?

Two reasons. One is an elite-capitalist or fascist world-view and the other is to appeal to those who are subjugated by and hoodwinked into believing the false promises of these ruling elite classes. Poverty and poor education seem to exacerbate susceptibility to it.

Yes it's a paradox when poor people consistently vote against their own self interests. It happens in all countries but there are historical divisions at play that seem to make it happen more in America than elsewhere.

As far as Trump is concerned he just exploits fear and prejudice and whatever is populist and can get him ahead. He doesn't really care what he says or about the people supporting him which explains his flip-flopping.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

In related news, the NYPD provides aid to the mafia by arresting members of competing criminal organizations.

Next on news at 11, FBI provides aid to criminal hackers by reducing security of iOS.

 

[QCassidy352]

Mod delete please. Thanks.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Headline should read: "NYPD Chief wants to aid identity thieves and cybercriminals".

Staff: can we PLEASE change the headline to this? Pretty please! Leave the rest of the content identical but just change this headline.

 

[aaronvan]

Beware the Dormant Cyber Pathogen.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Yeah Apple, you need to learn the ropes from the NYPD. You don't just start off protecting them; you hire them, give them a gun, a uniform, send them out into the street to harass, abuse, and kill the public at will, reward them with paychecks, and THEN you protect them. And in the end, stick the public with the bill for it all!

And anyone who questions the arrangement is a traitor. We can still publicly hang traitors right?

 

[T-Will]

By his logic, this means ANY business that a criminal patronizes is "providing aid" to the criminal and should be brought to justice. This includes gas stations, fast food, grocery stores, department stores, etc.

 

[Robisan]

Well, duh, it's right there in Apple's Terms of Service.

 

[shareef777]

I do not agree with this guy's position, but these are false equivalencies that misrepresent what he's saying. He's not saying that a manufacturer is to blame because their product was used in the commission of a crime; he's saying that manufacturers are to blame when they don't assist the police in investigating that crime after-the-fact (particularly, it seems, when they have some unique ability to do so, which wouldn't really be the case for Ford).

Again, not on his side, but let's at least represent his position honestly.

Any car manufacturer can absolutely prevent drunk driving by building in a breathalyzer into every vehicle. Fairly certain there are more deaths every year by drunk drivers then there are by terrorists.

 

[Aldaris]

I fear you presume too much, my friend.

More and more are seeing through the bull-that's a good thing.

Even though according to the various news outlets, more citizens side with the government than Apple, but they wouldn't skew the poll or results would they

 

[ardchoille50]

If a kidnapper used an iPhone to send a text or make a call then contact the cell carrier and get the records. It's not that hard to figure out. Other than that what else could be on the phone to help aid police in anything? All iMessages are on Apple servers, iCloud backups are given when asked. Everything on the phone is in the backup. People don't think. This is all just a scam. Do you really think that an experienced cyber criminal doesn't know how to hide themselves online? Encryption is everywhere and the bad guys will always have it.

The FBI doesn't actually want access to the phone from the San Bernardino incident, they want access to all phones for eternity and they're using this case, and throwing around terrorism buzzwords, as a means to that end.

These are the same people who pushed Apple to tighten security on iPhones and now they're suffering the fruits of that push. I don't think they know what they really want.

I doubt Apple will be forced to make an unlock tool, but if they do, I will refuse to update my devices.

 

[maxsix]

Someone's going to do it, might as well be Apple.

 

[ardchoille50]

If Apple is forced to make an unlock tool, they should release a new version of iOS the day after the tool is released. The new version of iOS should use different security systems, or a different hash/salt, to render the tool and inoperable.

This would force the government to go through this all over again, but it would also shed light on their ultimate agenda to have access to every iPhone for the future.

 

[shamino]

By this logic, every lock manufacturer should be required to deign their locks such that a single master key (to be kept by the government and used only when absolutely necessary, of course) can open them all. Since criminals will no longer be able to hide inside locked apartments or store things in locked rooms, we'll all be safer.

Don't concern yourself about whether criminals and foreign governments will be able to get a copy of the master key. That's just paranoid fantasy. It could never happen. And the government has never ever abused its authority, not even once in the entire history of the world.

Any car manufacturer can absolutely prevent drunk driving by building in a breathalyzer into every vehicle. Fairly certain there are more deaths every year by drunk drivers then there are by terrorists.

Are you aware that the government has already said that it wants to mandate this? See http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/...-soon-be-in-every-car-if-feds-have-their-way/

The FBI doesn't actually want access to the phone from the San Bernardino incident, they want access to all phones for eternity and they're using this case, and throwing around terrorism buzzwords, as a means to that end.
...
I doubt Apple will be forced to make an unlock tool, but if they do, I will refuse to update my devices.

Don't let anyone kid you. The government (and most of the people, both elected and otherwise, who run it) believe that they own all property in the country and that you have no rights beyond what they decide to grant you. You have no actual rights because all branches of the government have decided that the Constitution can be ignored wholesale whenever they find it convenient to do so.

News stories like this reveal the attitude more clearly than usual, but the attitude is nothing new.

As for updating your phone, you may not have a choice. Apple can easily push out an update in such a way that if you don't accept it, your phone will be bricked. I don't think they are likely to do this, but they have the capability. (How else do you think they would install their rogue OS on the locked phone that was used by the San Bernadino killer?)