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FBI Chief: Apple, Google Phone Encryption Perilous
An anonymous reader writes The FBI is concerned about moves by Apple and Google to include encryption on smartphones. "I like and believe very much that we should have to obtain a warrant from an independent judge to be able to take the contents," FBI Director James Comey told reporters. "What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law." From the article: "Comey cited child-kidnapping and terrorism cases as two examples of situations where quick access by authorities to information on cellphones can save lives. Comey did not cite specific past cases that would have been more difficult for the FBI to investigate under the new policies, which only involve physical access to a suspect's or victim's phone when the owner is unable or unwilling to unlock it for authorities."
"What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law."
Well that's pretty rich considering the government has allowed lots of federal agencies to place themselves beyond the law.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe if the government didn't abuse privacy and freedom at every turn they wouldn't be facing this situation.
There are checks and balances in the system for a reason. Rights of every citizen to be protected. I am deeply sorry that the FBI feels that people protecting their data from prying eyes causes them difficulty in doing their jobs. However, it is the job they signed up for, and the laws they swore to uphold.
Considering the FBI's long and rich history of fascism and acting against the US Bill of Rights (starting with Hoover, and going downhill from there), not to mention the NSA's rampant (and blatantly illegal) domestic spying....
I'll damn well act against their silly rules and regulations any well damn time I feel like it.
Every American should be encrypting the hell out of anything they own, and demanding that companies do likewise with their products and services. The sooner we render the Gestapo and Stasi impotent, the better.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
Odd that he didn't mention the FBI's past history of spying on congressmen, presidents, cabinet secretaries, etc. for Hoover's personal files. Think of the children, meh. Think of the Constitution.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
If it pisses off some FBI Chief, you know it must be good. (Either that or it is vunerable to the FBI and the Chief is just clueless.)
"By "forgetting" the key, you're placing yourself beyond the law."
Nah, you're simply invoking your rights, as enumerated by the 5th. Disingenuous and illogical court rulings notwithstanding.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
And also don't forget:
No person [...] shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation
Which means - and has been tested in court - that not only are we within our rights to secure in our papers, etc. with encryption but We-The-People also cannot be legally compelled to give up the password to said encryption.
"Beyond the law," Director Comey? We are provably /within/ the law. It is your organization which is pushing the limits of legality, not the citizens it is nominally there to serve.
"Comey cited child-kidnapping and terrorism cases as two examples of situations where quick access by authorities to information on cellphones can save lives. Comey did not cite specific past cases that would have been more difficult for the FBI to investigate" of course he didn't cite specific cases because there are NONE. this is the same pathetic unsupported excuse that law enforcement has been rolling out to put fear in the lemmings of the USA. the founders of this country knew, from past experience with Britain, that the worst enemy of the public is their own government. they put in the constitution and amendments to the constitution laws that "should" prevent the government from persecuting the public. now that the public is finally getting the technology to combat an out of control law enforcement, these clowns are whining that it make their jobs harder. and then make up unsubstantiated stories about how this will "hurt" the general public. get off your butts and get a warrant if you want to invade someone's privacy. warrant-less invasion of privacy is unconstitutional, period.
Yea it's by it's very definition of irony.
"What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.
Really? I'm pretty sure the past year of leaks have showed the FBI, the NSA, the CIA and even local law enforcement are constantly operating above the law! If anything, encryptable cellphones allow people to keep their 4th amendment rights!
This isn't just about the government invading peoples' rights. This is also about basic data security.
These days, people often carry quite a lot of sensitive information on their phones (e.g. sensitive pictures). If the contents of the phone are not encrypted, then anybody who gets their hands on the phone can access that information. This is extremely unsafe. I could easily imagine somebody building small, hand-held device which will plug into an iOS or Android phone and download its contents within a minute or two (such devices may already exist, I don't know, I haven't looked). All you'd need is for somebody to leave their phone unattended for a short time, and all of their data could be lost.
So what the FBI is really asking here is for people to never be safe with their data. They're not just asking for the ability to look at your information, if they were to be listened to, your information wouldn't be safe from anybody else either.
If the FBI, NSA et al was really thinking about the children, they would be thinking how important it is for our children to have a constitution that's enforced.
A warrant is the legal right for authorities to search yourself and your possessions at a particular location. Whether successful or not, whether they gain access or not is arbitrary. Just like apparently the requirement they return the searched property to it's original state and not apply a state sanctioned free of court review punishment by 'trashing' the property, especially considering how destructive they could be in the search for a micro SD card (demolition of the property and sifting of the rubble and then walking away with a meh).
So lawful warrants are not thwarted, the right to search does not imply the right to a successful search, that failure to achieve a successful search is an indication that the search warrant was unfairly and falsely granted. Access is the problem of those conducting the search and not the victims of the search. The victim of the search is not required to assist in the search, not required to tear apart their own furniture, empty their own cupboards, smash open their appliances, nor destroy plates their and cups or throw their own clothes on the ground after ripping them open.
The search warrant is a notice to the victim of the search of the right of the authorities to conduct the search. If the victim does not unlock the door, authorities may use other methods, the laws governing minimum force require that they contact a lock smith and not use a battering ram to smash open the door. However, as of course as the search warrant is all to often used as a method of punishment for a perceived lack of cooperation and or perceived lack respect for authorities, any idea of adhering to minimum force laws are corruptly ignored.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Dear Retard,
The purpose of mod points is to affect the visibility of certain posts for the benefit of Slashdot readership. Whether they are anonymous or not is irrelevant to that stated goal. Mod points are NOT intended to reward or punish user IDs, except for ass masters like you.
HTH
Because it's harder and would require real police work. Without encryption they can look then claim they didn't after they use the information to determine a way to construct probable cause using parallel construction. This is why some people think parallel construction is an end run around warrants and the constitution.
I wish I had mod points ...:)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm not sure what the DOJ did over the past few months, but whatever it was must have been seriously heinous to get Apple and Google to work together against them. I mean, we've only been demanding encrypted email communication for what, twenty years? And all of a sudden, Apple's DOJ abuse canary comes down, and Apple and Google are scrambling to encrypt everything.
Why do I have a feeling that Eric Holder's resignation is just the tip of the iceberg?
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