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Apple CEO Tim Cook will be featured on the cover of the March 28th edition of TIME Magazine in relation to the ongoing Apple-FBI debate over unlocking an iPhone belonging to deceased San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

The print edition includes a lengthy interview with Cook, who talked mostly about widely known background details pertaining to the case, just days before Apple and the FBI are set to appear in a U.S. court on Tuesday, March 22.

Tim-Cook-TIME-cover-Apple-vs-FBI.jpg

Cook insists that Apple's refusal to create a modified, less-secure version of iOS, enabling the FBI to unlock Farook's passcode-protected iPhone using brute force, was a "labored decision" based on lengthy internal discussions.
"We had long discussions about that internally, when they asked us," Cook says. "Lots of people were involved. It wasn't just me sitting in a room somewhere deciding that way, it was a labored decision. We thought about all the things you would think we would think about."
Cook said that he found out about the FBI-backed court order demanding Apple help federal investigators access data on the shooter's iPhone through the press, and he admitted to being "deeply offended" by the government agency "talking about or lying about [Apple's] intentions."
"Do I like their tactics?" Cook says. "No, I don't. I'm seeing the government apparatus in a way I've never seen it before. Do I like finding out from the press about it? No, I don't think it's professional. Do I like them talking about or lying about our intentions? No. I'm offended by it. Deeply offended by it."
Cook likened Apple's stance to "freedom of speech" in the U.S., which is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
"When I think of civil liberties, I think of the founding principles of this country," Cook says. "The freedoms that are in the First Amendment, but also the fundamental right to privacy. And the way that we simply see this is, if this All Writs Act can be used to force us to do something that would make millions of people vulnerable, then you can begin to ask yourself, If that can happen, what else can happen? In the next Senate you might say, Well, maybe it should be a surveillance OS. Maybe law enforcement would like the ability to turn on the camera on your Mac." [...]

Except that it protects terrorists as well as good guys. "We get that," Cook says. "But you don't take away the good for that sliver of bad. We've never been about that as a country. We make that decision every day, right? There are some times that freedom of speech, we might cringe a little when we hear that person saying this and wish they wouldn't. This, to us, is like that. It's at the core of who we are as a country."
While the FBI has argued that it only wants access to a single iPhone, Cook stressed that "it's not about one phone" and that weakening encryption could set a dangerous legal precedent -- which the FBI itself has partially acknowledged.
"It's very much about the future. You have a guy in Manhattan saying, I've got 175 phones that I want to take through this process." (The guy in question being New York County district attorney Cyrus Vance, who did in fact say that.)
The full-length interview can be read on TIME's website and in the March 28 print issue.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook Featured on Cover of TIME Magazine in New Apple-FBI Interview
 
The All Writs Act should not be used in this case. Just about everyone other that the FBI agrees. Forcing a company to create a product that they would not create otherwise is not a good thing. A judge in New York has agreed. I am hopeful that Tim wins this.

And then... maybe we can sit down and look for ways that technology can help solve crimes and catch bad people. After all, isn't that what we really want.
 
And then... maybe we can sit down and look for ways that technology can help solve crimes and catch bad people. After all, isn't that what we really want.

I feel like with the advent of such tech, law enforcement has forgotten that more can be done with less. Essentially been lazy. With that the governed saw a whole other side as they greedily rubbed their hands together. Tech should be a tool, not a crutch. In my job I use hand tools and pneumatic. Could I spin off the oil filter with a 1/2" impact gun? Sure. Doesn't mean I should. Sometimes I still have to do things the old fashioned way, through work.
 
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As was once said, back in the days of the FBI's Hoover (who spied on politicians to black mail them and get what he wanted):

"we want no Gestapo or secret police. The FBI is tending in that direction."
-H Truman

Such powers (essentially winning the Clipper Chip back - govt access to any citizen smartphone / computer by requiring the maker to build it in for them), if given to the government would be abused (Hoover, McCarthy, Nixon, <insert next one here>). This is the reason the founding father's of the U.S. made it intentionally difficult for the govt / police to do their job - because they knew those in power would eventually try to abuse that power.

JMHO, Apple execs should reflect on whether this push for user surveillance by Govts is going to go away or get even stronger in the future. My guess is it will get even harder to avoid it (these Govts control access to Apple's markets where it makes money). To deny this future, I would urge Cook and Co. to consider making a paradigm shift (something Apple does occasionally) and make their OS, Compilers, Apps and most importantly their BIOS and firmware images Open Source (not free though), so that they can constantly be audited by the public - and prevent any secret FISA orders from putting such back doors in without their users knowing (which would discourage such orders in the 1st place). It'd be a huge amount of work and change - but in the end Apples sales would go through the roof as the only maker doing this (and people wanting it). They have to do the BIOS / firmware though, otherwise it won't be good enough (Lenovo has shown that).
 
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I can understand how a law enforcement agency would want access to something like this. Anything that can improve their ability to do their job, they're going to want to pursue it.

It shocks me to the core to know that the government, who's job it is to keep agencies like this in check and keep civil liberties at the forefront of priority are siding with this agency in attempting to erode privacy and freedom in pursuit of their agenda.

It shouldn't take someone like Cook or a company like Apple to stand up for civil liberties. It's bloody insane that it's even coming down to this.
 
The All Writs Act should not be used in this case. Just about everyone other that the FBI agrees. Forcing a company to create a product that they would not create otherwise is not a good thing. A judge in New York has agreed. I am hopeful that Tim wins this.

And then... maybe we can sit down and look for ways that technology can help solve crimes and catch bad people. After all, isn't that what we really want.

The correct law is the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA grants the government a lot of wiretapping powers, she says, but also clearly sets out the limits to those powers.

The government won an extensive, specific list of wiretapping assistance requirements in connection with digital communications. But in exchange, 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.

That wording means that the government is specifically prohibited from requiring Apple to create a compromised version of iOS.

The government is aware of this, and the blog piece describes how it is attempting to argue its way around the issue, but Crawford says the FBI’s brief uses a circular argument. CALEA has, she writes, “no gaps; no interpretive sunlight: CALEA stops the government from doing what it wants to do to Apple.”
 
Wow, when convenient liberals are now invoking the founding fathers and principles the country was founded upon, etc.

But when inconvenient, right to bear arms, they distance themselves conpletely and mock those who invoke the founding fathers!

Can't work both ways!
 
It shocks me to the core to know that the government, who's job it is to keep agencies like this in check and keep civil liberties at the forefront of priority are siding with this agency in attempting to erode privacy and freedom in pursuit of their agenda.
The problem is, it's not the government, per se. It is people working in the government at this moment. It is a political decision by the executive branch, its leaders, the agencies called FBI and DoJ led by real people appointed by this current President. This is on the hands of this President quite squarely.

This is what you get when you mix a President with a Constitutional scholar and teacher, and a Community Organizer. You get malicious anti-constitutional, anti-citizen policies. Malicious economics, malicious partisan speech, malicious division of people by race, gender, income, education. All while giving speeches that overtly state the opposite is happening. We are seeing the first propaganda President that is open enough to get caught. Just like Putin always does.

Nobody has the authority or means to stop either one of them.

DesignerOnMac said:
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.

Any lawyer here that can tell me the recourse for this besides voting? Criminal or civil.

cite:

https://backchannel.com/the-law-is-...-apple-rewrite-its-os-9ae60c3bbc7b#.7l487lhw3
 
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Do I wish Tm Cook would stop asking himself questions when he's speaking? Yes I do.

Seriously though, it's kind of amazing how perceptions have slowly turned around in Apple's favor. When the phone first showed up I speculated the government was going to use it to shove anti-privacy government surveillance laws down our throats and that is absolutely what happened. I knew they were going to try to wedge opinion using "if you're not for whatever we want, you're for terrorism".

I'm glad Apple had the guts to make a stand. They largely weathered that initial wave of knee-jerk reactions and fear and have gotten us into the phase of a serious debate about the issues and the law.
 
This all seems rather convenient...

The mainstream media is a concerted effort, so Cook's appearance on the front of TIME only makes me suspect him of being an actor in a show.
 
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The All Writs Act should not be used in this case. Just about everyone other that the FBI agrees. Forcing a company to create a product that they would not create otherwise is not a good thing. A judge in New York has agreed. I am hopeful that Tim wins this.

And then... maybe we can sit down and look for ways that technology can help solve crimes and catch bad people. After all, isn't that what we really want.

Aren't we all ( or at least most of us )
Hopeful as you said?
Keep fighting the good fight Tim and Apple

All respect to Tim Cook and his team. They are doing the right thing and fighting the right fight.

Agreed
 
Wow, when convenient liberals are now invoking the founding fathers and principles the country was founded upon, etc.

But when inconvenient, right to bear arms, they distance themselves conpletely and mock those who invoke the founding fathers!

Can't work both ways!
Doesn't it work like this:

1 - America's founding fathers believed it was worth the risk for the general public to own guns, back when a "gun" was a very basic piece of equipment (e.g.: a musket). In the modern world, a "gun" can now be a very sophisticated and massively more powerful weapon, so it's worth revisiting the trade-offs that led to that original decision.

2 - America's founding fathers believed it was worth the risk for the general public to have freedom and privacy, back when your personal life was recorded on paper and there was no cryptography. In the modern world, we have significantly more data and much stronger ways to hide information, so it's worth revisiting the trade-offs that led to that original decision.

It's totally plausible (and not hypocritical) to consider both of those above issues, while having respect for America's founding principles, and come to a rational but different decision on each one. Their respective arguments and modern-day trade-offs are very different.
 
This really is Tim's moment to say, "Only Apple could have done this." :D Would be so filled with meaning.
 
Too bad people in China aren't deserving of Tim's grand fight.
Why would they not be deserving? They will however certainly not be benefitting from any anti 'backdoor' victory in the US, if that were to materialize. The communist govt in China would never allow such 'freedoms' for its people.

Which brings up a whole 'nother angle: this proposed forced backdoor technology could never work on a country-by-country basis. The same smartphones are used the world over, and weakened encryption technology could never be contained to certain geographical locations, and would most certainly be used (and abused) by eager law enforcement agencies around the globe, and in countries with varying degrees of democracy and human rights track records.

As much as we like to think that a decision here, either by Scotus or Congress will settle the issue definitively, that will most certainly not be the case. Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond, have already proposed legislated 'back doors' for encrypted data as a condition for handset makers to be able to continue selling their devices in those respective jurisdictions. And over that we have little-to-no control.

This is a worldwide issue that needs worldwide debate and that also needs, as much as it seems an objective with almost insurmountable roadblocks in the world that exists today, worldwide consensus.
 
I think Tim did a great job of stating Apple's case. He also made the government case appear more emotion while Apple's appeared more thoughtful and protective of U.S. Citizens. That was some powerful P.R. for Apple.
 
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It was rumored, and reported, that apple gave it all to the Chinese government to gain access to market.
 
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