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Google CEO Finally Chimes In On FBI Encryption Case, Says He Agrees With Apple (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader writes: After Tim Cook's eloquent letter explaining why Apple wouldn't help the FBI get encrypted data from the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, the internet looked to Google to take a similar stand. Now Google CEO Sundar Pichai has posted five tweets that seem to show he agrees with Cook.
Edward Snowden had previously suggested that Google's silence meant Google had "picked a side, but it's not the public's."
Edward Snowden had previously suggested that Google's silence meant Google had "picked a side, but it's not the public's."
Google and privacy are not on speaking terms.
True but this case related to iOS 8. Previous iOS versions were not as secure
I get that you're trolling, but I just came in from walking the dog and was listening to some Right Wing talk radio in between periods of the Blackhawks-Rangers game. All the Right-Wing jackoffs are going on about how Tim Cook should be jailed for contempt or treason or something or other and how a corporation giving up encryption keys and backdoors is the same as if the local cops come to your door with a warrant and we should trust the NSA and FBI and all the three-letter agencies to make sure it's only the information on one phone that is decrypted.
It just shows they don't mean a bit of it when they say how they hate Big Government. They just want Big Government on their own terms.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Oh, that's such happy horseshit. The government already has all the evidence they need in this San Bernadino case. They're trying to get their hands on a technology and set a precedent. Fuck them.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Want to see smoke come out of someone's ears? Ask one of the Tim-Cook-is-a-traitor, we-can-trust-the-government crowd why the FBI shouldn't break into the gun store owner's phone, where the San Bernardino shooters bought some of their firearms and brass, just to make sure nothing hinky is going on with him or his shop. You can watch the disconnect happen in their brain. "BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT..." Exactly! "AND IT WOULDN'T HELP THE CASE..." Exactly!
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
I'm no Apple supporter, but your comparison is (heh) apples-and-oranges. In the US, it's refusing to alter its software to allow the FBI to access private data. In China, it's allowing the government to perform a security audit of its source code - you know, just like every open source project on the planet implicitly allows China to do.
I mean, by that standard, Linux is co-operating with Chinese attempts to violate the privacy of its users, because it publishes its source code for the government to audit (if they feel like it), too. And honestly, with this admission about the FBI coming into the open, it just goes to show how justified other governments are in demanding to examine US products for signs of government malfeasance.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
To which you point out to your parents Tim Cook's letter, which is linked off the front page of apple.com. In it he details why he's making the stand, and even more importantly, why he's "being a dick". He even addresses terrorism itself. It's a very insightful and thoughtful message that explains why Apple does not want to roll over and be the FBI's pet. And he even details why encryption is not just optional on a smartphone, but mandatory. And heck, Apple did give up the data they could - the iCloud backups, which were obtained legally by a warrant.
As for the "user privacy" stance - after the Snowden revelations, it's the only stance Apple can take. It's also beneficial, since it's the stance Apple can take to differentiate their products from their competitors.
But think of it this way - if they didn't care, why did they go through all the trouble of the secure enclave? And to make it an extremely paranoid one at that - giving it the ultimate power to wipe the phone if attacked? (Error 53 is such an attack - perhaps a modified fingerprint sensor is trying to find a way to break the secure enclave code and allow it to run arbitrary code, allowing full access to the system without the system knowing. The secure enclave is paranoid as it should be). It's why later phones rely on it to do the 10 authentication attempts and wipe, and why the enclave enforces the delays between attempts.
If anything, this issue should go to the Supreme Court to be decided there, putting to rest all those legislation trying to put backdoors in encryption products and other things.
And yes, there is a chilling effect - it spreads wider than just Apple, but to everyone. Not just iOS, or Android, or Blackberry, but to the very foundations of what the Internet provides. Because it's not just encryption, but efforts like HTTPS Everywhere, Lets Encrypt and other services,
Is it too much to ask Google to simply come out in favor of privacy of its users?
Probably, considering that violating privacy is their primary source of income. Eric Schmidt actually came out against privacy.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."