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Feds Used 1789 Law To Force Apple, Google To Unlock Phones 63 Times (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The FBI has been citing a 1789 law, the All Writs Act, to compel Apple to assist the authorities in unlocking the iPhone 5c belonging to San Bernardino killer, Syed Farook. The law allows for judges to issue orders for people or companies to do something despite Congress not passing laws to cover specific instances. According to the Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. government has cited the All Writs Act in 63 cases since 2008 to compel Apple or Google to assist in accessing data stored on an iPhone or Android device. Most of the orders involved Apple. "To the extent we know about the underlying facts, these cases predominantly arise out of investigations into drug crimes," said Eliza Sweren-Becker, an ACLU attorney.
So, phones should be insecure so that the government (and criminals) can get into them?
The same encryption that protects terrorists protects YOUR credit card info and naughty pictures on your phone.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
Personally, I think that the main reason why the Feds backed off is that they realized that if the all writs act ever gets to the Supreme Court, it is going down. Ironically a different part of the same 1789 judiciary act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803). This was the classic case where the Supreme Court struck down an act of Congress for the first time. Apple is an organization with enough power and credibility to take this case to the Supreme Court. So it made sense to back off and preserve the "validity" of the all writs act for future use.
Basically, it means the government doesn't give a fuck about the rule of law, and will do anything they can to expand what should be wartime powers to apply it to anything they can fucking think of.
Wake up America, and stop telling the fucking rest of the world you're the champions of liberty and freedom ... you're living in a police state, and most of your idiot citizens think this is a good fucking idea.
Fuck you, America. You have abandoned all of your principles domestically, and have already demonstrated that internationally you will do anything you see fit.
Congratulations. You're not only the enemy of your freedom, but you're the enemy of ours.
America, you are pretty much the enemy of everybody on the fucking planet who does not wish to submit to some horrible state police which is allowed to do anything they wish.
So shut the fuck up, stay the fuck out of our countries, and wallow in your own shit. But we don't give a fuck about what you assholes do anymore. Because you've given up on all semblance of everything you have ever claimed to be.
America is fucked. So just fuck off and stay the hell away from us as you decline into the shithole you've been aspiring to be for the last few decades.
You are now EVERYTHING you used to stand against, and stop fucking pretending otherwise.
Fuck America. If you're going to be some third world banana republic in which the state police can lie cheat and make up laws, you all fucking deserve what you get.
From a point of an European national living in a "police state" this is ridiculous. Why haven't the Congress enacted laws regulating communications companies related to warrants, national security and emergency circumstances, and technical monitoring made by the police under warrant? Is avoiding public discussion so important for the law enforcement that the rule of law and democracy are starting to rot?