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FBI Looks Into Unlocking Minnesota Mall Stabber's iPhone (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: The Minnesota man suspected of stabbing 10 people in a mall before police fatally shot him left behind his iPhone. Now, FBI agents are looking into unlocking his iPhone as part of the investigation. The FBI says Dahir Adan, 20, attacked several shoppers on September 17 in a frenzy, asking his victims if they were Muslim before he stabbed them. ISIS claimed responsibility for attack shortly after. FBI director James Comey told the House Judiciary Committee his agency is reviewing Adan's electronic devices -- but is having issues getting into his iPhone. The device remains locked, as agents are "exploring technical and legal options," Minneapolis FBI spokesman Jeff Van Nest said. He declined to specify what model the iPhone was.

99 comments

  1. Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ISIS took credit for my stubbed toe last week and these god damn dipshits eat it up ever time. Thanks for being a bunch of fucking gullible retards, America. Begin so incapable of generating even a modicum of rational thought, you deserve every single bad thing that happens to you. Smarten up, you stupid assholes.

    1. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, Dahir Adan was totally a white Christian NRA member upset over abortions or gay marriage or something...

    2. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by gijoel · · Score: 1

      I wish I could mod this up.

    3. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sure, let's give up more of our civil liberties because the bad guys took credit for a stabbing. Brilliant idea, you must be some sort of genius.

    4. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We have no interest in giving up any civil liberties. We will, however, happily hand over all of our muslims.

    5. Re: Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That is giving up our liberties.

    6. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dahir Adan didn't commit this heinous crime because he was connected with ISIS, he did it because he was a n-i-g-g-e-r.

      As an aside, Slashdot apparently is run by bleeding heart (but ONLY for black people) SJW racists now. The site censors the word n-i-g-g-e-r but not chink, jap, gook, spic, wetback, beaner, limey, kraut, greaseball, honky, whiteboy, wog, towelhead, kyke, etc. The only place in the world that n-i-g-g-e-r is considered offensive is in the *modern* (see Mark Twain) USA with all of the entitled little white millennial shits.

    7. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      being totally inundated by stats and graphs of nearly everything, i haven't seen stats of terrorism by religious affiliation by percentage of population etc.

      am sure some journo have proposed the story to the editors and was shot down for being: 1. sjw; 2. the buddhists may get angry and firebomb the newsroom.

    8. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by sudon't · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The point the OP was trying to make is that many, perhaps most, of these attacks are perpetrated by mentally unbalanced individuals, and are not planned attacks by an organization. Yet, the media and the politicians love to play up the, at one time, Al Qeada, and now, ISIS angle because it's good for the terrorism industry. Or they're stupid - it's not always easy to tell. But the reason for the American public's gullibility is clear. If there were any doubts about the intelligence of the American electorate before, this election has settled the matter.

      --
      -- sudon't

      Air-ride Equipped

    9. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by lsatenstein · · Score: 1

      ISIS took credit for my stubbed toe last week and these god damn dipshits eat it up ever time. Thanks for being a bunch of fucking gullible retards, America. Begin so incapable of generating even a modicum of rational thought, you deserve every single bad thing that happens to you. Smarten up, you stupid assholes.

      ISIS appeals to the obsessive compulsive individuals, who are fully absorbed in their religion, because the religion satisfies a desire to feel good. ISIS makes that individual want to feel great, by doing it's evil deeds. The religion, from what I read, does not tolerate other religions, and thus, there is the motivation to do evil.

      --
      Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
    10. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by ChoGGi · · Score: 1

      Hmm Slashdot censoring words?

      If it wasn't for some random AC, I would've never found out about Gaynigge rs from Outer Space (not sure if that's a good thing or not)
      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt02...

    11. Re:Hook, line, and sinker by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Are you trying to claim that the FBI failed to get a warrant to access a deceased person's iPhone? After all, the only thing that has to be achieved to search people's papers and property is a warrant.

      What exact civil liberty is being given up here?

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  2. well, knives are apparently the new IED by turkeydance · · Score: 1
  3. Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can we start using background checks for knife purchases. How many more incidents like this one before America gets smart and passes sensible knife laws.

    1. Re:Please by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You seem on edge, guy. You're probably the kind of guy who cuts in line and talks back with razor-sharp humour.

    2. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We don't need laws, we just need smart knives that only cut when used by the rightful owner.

    3. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh yes, just what I want...a background check and waiting period to be able to buy cutlery and kitchen appliances.

      I have a better idea though. How about you and every other irresponsible and scared little SJW scapegoat-finder go die in a fire? I think that solution would work out much better.

    4. Re: Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's joking? Jesus.

    5. Re: Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoosh.

  4. Terrorists by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every terrorist that has been killed has had an iPhone. The only logical conclusion is that iPhones make you a terrorist.

    1. Re:Terrorists by DaHat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or... terrorists hate the freedom of OSS and prefer the over-priced walled garden model.

    2. Re:Terrorists by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I did hear that terrorists hate our freedoms.

    3. Re:Terrorists by rtb61 · · Score: 0

      Every ?terrorist? killed has shown signs of mental health issues, looks like that moron actor Ronny Rayguns idea of crippling social mental health services to save on taxes has been blown up, shot, stabbed and run down, right in all the innocent victims faces. How many lives would have been saved if that idiot had not been allowed to cripple social mental health services and letting US law enforces shoot mentally ill persons at will is not a solution, neither is tying them down and torturing them to death with tazers and chemical weapons. Ronny Raygun and Bubba Clinton sure saved on their rich buddies taxes none of theirs died, so final count, was more money saved by crippling social mental health services or was more spent on the aftermath, the cost to victims, the damage to property, rising security costs, the cost of the problem being dumped on untrained law enforcers.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    4. Re:Terrorists by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      Or... terrorists hate the freedom of OSS and prefer the over-priced walled garden model.

      Well I'm not surprised. Have you seen how beautiful their walled gardens are?

    5. Re:Terrorists by DaHat · · Score: 4, Informative

      I know your hate is strong, your facts are not.

      Do you know how hard it is to involuntarily institutionalize someone due to mental health issues? If you can articulate where you are (ie "in a room, strapped to a bed") and don't make any overt statements about a desire to harm yourself or others... you are going to be left go after just a day or three.

      This was more due to the ACLU and legal challenges and not law/policy of Reagan. Sorry.

      I specifically call out 'involuntarily institutionalize' as that at least gives the hope that someone notices someone is a bit crazy and might do something bad... do you honestly think that the person pondering doing evil is going to say "you know what, I can just so easily go check myself into the dr, spend a few months with some shrinks & meds and be all better and not kill anyone"? Of course not, their mind is so warped that doing what we call evil is good/normal to them.

    6. Re: Terrorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know it's this way because massive abuse right?

    7. Re:Terrorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I specifically call out 'involuntarily institutionalize' as that at least gives the hope that someone notices someone is a bit crazy and might do something bad...

      That's a really dangerous idea. Having people pointing fingers at one another? Can't you see the whole subjectivity of 'crazy' opens up a number of avenues for abuse? Come on. Kill this idea while it's still in the nest.

    8. Re:Terrorists by DaHat · · Score: 1

      I am purposely not placing my marker as to where I think the correct line is, I am simply responding to a loon who thinks that a single person was the reason we can't treat those he deems as being mentally ill, as he lacks a great deal of understanding of just some of the history on the issue well before the the 80's.

    9. Re:Terrorists by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Making involuntary instutionalization almost impossible was a gift from the left.

      Getting rid of government funding for voluntary psych wards was mostly (state-level) Republican cost cutting.

      It is debatable whether any self-radicalized Americans would be slowed by it, much less foreigners.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    10. Re:Terrorists by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Why, oh why can't we get terrirists to use Android devices?

    11. Re:Terrorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's too bad that we couldn't prove that iphone7 with no headphone jack caused more people to go over a ledge with God in their heads, and no way out, except that we cannot prove that anything from within our mind finds it's way out through your headphones, while using the headphones as mini-speakers. As a side note, I said "our mind", so tilt tin-foil hat accordingly, or miss the signal completely.

    12. Re:Terrorists by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Yeah I am sure the guys who killed 90 in Paris were the fault of Reagan letting the loonies out. You must be one of them.

    13. Re:Terrorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More likely, you're a faggot and should be murdered in the street with a spiked guava.

    14. Re:Terrorists by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Look at most of the local terrorist caught, there is a consistent record of mental health issues and this usually comes out a few weeks after the initial beat up. They do not have to be institutionalised you moron, they just need treatment they can not afford, get that treatment and they are not a problem, don't get that treatment because they can not afford it and everyone else pays that price and then they either get shot or fail to get treatment in prison. They cut back on public funding of mental health services and look at the problems that arose.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  5. The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out there by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's of the world: "If you can't unlock, you must acquit." The reality is that police do have a right, with a court order to search everything related to you, especially if you commit multiple attempted murders. The public has a vested interest in knowing if you had any co-conspirators among other things. That said I am all for strong encryption on all electronics. I think the best solution is some middle ground. I don't know where that middle ground is. The reality is that we the people need to start by requiring the federal government to treat our computers, email and cell phones with the same level of respect for privacy as is given to the US mail (i.e. its a felony to tamper/interfere/gain unauthorized access). Once that is established we can have a conversation about giving access with court order to some or all of these items.

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
  6. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by DaHat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reality is that police do have a right, with a court order to search everything related to you, especially if you commit multiple attempted murders

    Said right does not require a safe manufacturer to build backdoors into their safes, nor alter the complexity of math.

    That said I am all for strong encryption on all electronics. I think the best solution is some middle ground. I don't know where that middle ground is. The reality is that we the people need to start by requiring the federal government to treat our computers, email and cell phones with the same level of respect for privacy as is given to the US mail (i.e. its a felony to tamper/interfere/gain unauthorized access). Once that is established we can have a conversation about giving access with court order to some or all of these items.

    Easier said than done. The contents of a letter remain secret because people treat it that way. The contents of a safe remain secret because people treat it that way... and have a physical impediment to easy access. The contents of an encrypted device remain secret because the system is designed not to be easily be openable by anyone other than those the legitimate owner has chosen thanks to lots of math.

    Currently, there is no legal requirement for a company like Apple to have a way that they & only can unlock a phone, in fact they've purposely engineered ways to make it more difficult.

    It's easy to say "but in the case of terrorism, we should have the right to compel them!" ok... where do you want that right to end? Are you & Apple ready for divorcing spouses to be going to court to order the seizing of their spouses cell phone and ordering Apple to decrypt it to prove infidelity?

    Such an ability also lowers the bar not only for law enforcement to legitimately investigate (via search warrant) suspects, but also the ability to plenty of others in law enforcement & government to go fishing.

  7. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It -IS- a felony to tamper/interfere/gain-unauthorized-access to computers/email/cell-phones without permission (or warrant). But yes, it would be nice if officials would actually pay this any mind.

  8. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by joshki · · Score: 1

    There is no middle ground. Strong crypto does not allow for the possibility you suggest.

    --
    I do not read or respond to AC's. If you want a discussion, log in. Otherwise, don't waste your time.
  9. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The current U.S. administration has said (at least in internal documents) that all conservative Christians are potential terrorists and are a bigger threat to security in the U.S. than ISIS. Since this policy has gone uncontested for at least 6 years despite all evidence and statistics to the contrary, I guess all the bureaucrats don't have a problem with this. If we say that encryption must have back doors "because terrorists" then aren't we saying that any group that is out of favor politically should loose their 4th & 5th amendment rights?

  10. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by peragrin · · Score: 2

    Giving any government backdoor keys will always be bad.

    What about physical access to device. Should the device contain the decryption key, so that it could be decrypted if the flash chip is removed?

    Disassembly that might take a tech an hour or two?

    I ask not for government but for other third parties. If you die should your spouse gave legal right to access your phone and encrypted storages?

    --
    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  11. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by DaHat · · Score: 2

    There are workarounds... the most recent notable example/request being requiring Apple to push a one time update to the San Bernardino terrorists device which would remove the pin lockout counter so that the FBI could try every single combo without fear of wiping the device.

    This idea runs into legal issues as given such an update would be required to be signed by Apple (so that the device trusts the update), it constitute government compelled speech... which the first amendment tends to prevent.

    The bugger is that there is always a way, it's just a matter as to how much time/money/leverage is available.

  12. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There also has to be a limit to how much work the government can compel people to do for free to help them uncover evidence. Creating, testing and pushing an OS update is pushing it in my mind.

    Otherwise, why bother paying for infrastructure projects? Just start pressing people into evidence-discovering gangs: "You, you and you. We think there's a corpse buried somewhere under here, start digging. You brought your own shovel, right?"

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  13. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by DaHat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What about physical access to device. Should the device contain the decryption key, so that it could be decrypted if the flash chip is removed?

    The device always contains a decryption key... it's just a matter of how hard it is to get to... and it may not actually be located in flash memory.

    Disassembly that might take a tech an hour or two?

    Disassembly yes, retrieval, no.

    What do you know about focused ion beam hacking? http://semiengineering.com/eve...

    Short version: A reverse engineer can take a dozen or two chips of the same kind, slowly grind them down layer by later, selecting the best example of each level, then continue the process. Once you've gone through all of the layers you can actually construct a pretty accurate design of the internals. From there, you can use a FIB and some probes to actually get access to the inner workings of the chip.

    Chip designers for years have to various extents attempted to take steps to prevent this. The one advantage they have is doing so is very difficult & expensive... but a successful hack can more than pay for itself.

    I ask not for government but for other third parties. If you die should your spouse gave legal right to access your phone and encrypted storages?

    Which is a fair point. If your loved one goes missing and leaves their phone behind, unlocking it to find out who they were recently talking with may be difficult if not impossible. If someone dies, your window to use their finger to unlock the device is quite short.

    This is only a wider version of a long standing problem... as I don't know many people who make it a point to stash a BitLocker/TrueCrypt/etc keys to a safe spot that will be discoverable upon their disappearance or death, but secure enough that an angry spouse or law enforcement agent wouldn't be able to uncover.

  14. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by DaHat · · Score: 1

    Given the suspect is dead, they have no remaining privacy rights... and a warrant to search such a device is trivial to get.

  15. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by sexconker · · Score: 2

    The bugger is that there is always a way, it's just a matter as to how much time/money/leverage is available.

    How much time and money and leverage do you need to decipher a message encrypted with a one time pad that was burned to ash in the explosion?

  16. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    Currently, there is no legal requirement for a company like Apple to have a way that they & only can unlock a phone, in fact they've purposely engineered ways to make it more difficult.

    Absolutely. A "masterkey" system like that would be such a huge target for corporate/government espionage. It becomes the Golden Snitch. Even if it took decades to plant someone at Apple and have them work their way up to gain access, it would still be worth it.

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  17. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by DaHat · · Score: 1

    We must not allow an infinite monkey gap to exist!

  18. really? by crimson+tsunami · · Score: 2

    The Minnesota man suspected of stabbing 10 people in a mall before police fatally shot him left behind his iPhone.

    I didn't realize taking it with you was an option.

    1. Re:really? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Of course not. Apple gets a kickback from Heaven by forcing you to get a new one.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  19. Jurisdiction? by gavron · · Score: 1

    Local mall. Local police. Why is the FBI in on this gig?

    Yeah for sure they shouldn't get another bite at the [encryption debate] Apple... but why are they even involved and why won't someone say "Hey they have no standing here. This was a simple case of a stabbing and a shooting and it's all local and the FBI has NO JURISmyDICTION here!!!" ?

    E

    1. Re:Jurisdiction? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the FBI doesn't care about the iPhone in questions, they're using this to promote their agenda of forced backdoors.

    2. Re:Jurisdiction? by DaHat · · Score: 2

      Because of ties to terrorism? ... and having more tools to try to recover data than your local PD?

    3. Re:Jurisdiction? by BitterOak · · Score: 1

      Local mall. Local police. Why is the FBI in on this gig?

      Yeah for sure they shouldn't get another bite at the [encryption debate] Apple... but why are they even involved and why won't someone say "Hey they have no standing here. This was a simple case of a stabbing and a shooting and it's all local and the FBI has NO JURISmyDICTION here!!!" ?

      E

      ISIS claimed responsibility. They are an international terrorist organization. That automatically makes it federal jurisdiction.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    4. Re:Jurisdiction? by Agripa · · Score: 1

      Local mall. Local police. Why is the FBI in on this gig?

      The knife traveled in or affected interstate commerce.

  20. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    Or they could, you know, stay the fuck out of our personal communications and solve crimes the way they always have. You make it sound like nobody ever solved a crime before computers were invented.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  21. There is always a hidden agenda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop and think for a moment.. what purpose did this press release serve? Why would the FBI inform the public that they have an iPhone that they cannot unlock? Governments like to maintain a feeling of superiority and they can't do that while, at the same time, admitting mistakes or inadequacies. This press release was designed to show the FBI as a victim. What purpose does this "playing the victim" serve.. except to hopefully pluck at the heartstrings and gain the attention of people (read "voters") that can actually change the law in the FBI's favor?

    Do you see what's really happening here? They're not trying to unlock an iPhone, they're trying (again) to gain sympathy from an unsuspecting public in order to change the law. They know that a court order forcing Apple to comply is a waste of time, been there.. done that.. it didn't work. Now, they're trying to change public opinion.

    What they don't seem to understand is that, if they can easily get into the iPhone system, criminals will stop using iPhones. When was the last time the government had this kind of difficulty getting into an Android phone?

    What ever happened to good old-fashioned detective work?

    1. Re:There is always a hidden agenda by Swave+An+deBwoner · · Score: 1

      What ever happened to good old-fashioned detective work?

      Well, there were hand-written documents (the bad guy's "blackbook" of phone numbers, for example). There were wiretaps for phone surveillance, and the murderer had to make his phone calls from actual physical locations - not an ever-changing array of cellular and/or IP devices. If he sent a letter, the USPS could intercept it and send it on its way again undetected after the LEO folks read it. While a given operator with sufficient training could manually encrypt or obfuscate these communications, most didn't have that training.

      Now the "blackbook", the phone conversations (including various forms of electronic text messaging), and email can all be automatically locked up tight with excellent, free, encryption software; little if any training is needed.

      With the content out of reach, some "privacy" folks are complaining even that cellular and other electronic metadata is being captured and examined.

      So I think that a little bit of understanding ought to accompany the criticisms of the FBI's stance.

  22. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    "Are you & Apple ready for divorcing spouses to be going to court to order the seizing of their spouses cell phone and ordering Apple to decrypt it to prove infidelity?"

    That is beside the point, since this is all about *Uncle Sam* knowing what is up with Clarise without Clarise's husband ever having an inkling.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  23. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    They didn't gain unauthorized access. Yahoo was complicit. They no doubt have as a terms of their use that they can access your emails.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  24. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by DaHat · · Score: 2

    Today it is about Uncle Sam wanting to know, just as it was long ago just about Uncle Sam being able to send a subpoena to Google or Microsoft for the contents of someones inbox. Once that ability exists, private lawyers will find sympathetic judges who will agree to use it in private legal matters as well.

    Don't believe me? Chat with a divorce lawyer sometime as to the weapons one or both members of the case end up using against each other.

  25. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by jader3rd · · Score: 1

    There also has to be a limit to how much work the government can compel people to do for free to help them uncover evidence

    That's an easy answer, nothing for free. The government is willing to pay for this work. No involved is talking about unpaid work.

  26. Remember guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When someone asks you if you're God, you say "YES"!

    1. Re:Remember guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He would have probably stabbed the victim in a Halal fashion in the case the victim had answered correctly. Like ISIS does in the Syria and Iraq to Muslims. Remember that, you whipper-snapping advocates to ISIS.

  27. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where does the government get the money to pay for this non-free work? Oh right... taxes, where you & I work some part of the year not for ourselves, but for the government so they can pay for the non-free work.

  28. Police didn't shoot him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An individual with a concealed carry permit did.

  29. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    It would sicken me if mundane crime, or even terrorism, in this country, lead the way for places like China and Russia to have backdoors so they could continue with their boot stamping on a human face, forever.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  30. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 0

    I don't believe you because you are an idiot if you think the two have anything even remotely to do with each other.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  31. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The reality is that police do have a right, with a court order to search everything related to you, especially if you commit multiple attempted murders. The public has a vested interest in knowing if you had any co-conspirators among other things.

    Some time ago the US government determined that the freedoms of our country were worth the cost of over 60 million lives which they forcibly sent to die in World War 2.

    So no, the reality is the police do not have a right to destroy the principles our country was founded on for "only" under a hundred deaths.

    That said I am all for strong encryption on all electronics.

    Are you now?

    I think the best solution is some middle ground.

    Ahh, yes I didn't think you were really "all for strong encryption" after all.

  32. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by DaHat · · Score: 1

    Says the person who has offered a single argument as to why an investigatory tool created for government would not later be available to private cases.

    Stored data is stored data, and the law and court history is pretty clear as to who can get access and when (where there exists an access method).

  33. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Given the suspect is dead, they have no remaining privacy rights... and a warrant to search such a device is trivial to get.

    Just don't forget that Apple has no ability to decrypt this single device.
    The FBI however has officially stated they can decrypt any iPhone, so it is the FBI that needs to be served the warrant, and is obstructing justice if they refuse to do so.

    Before claiming Apple could do so with a hackory firmware update, don't forget your own words:
    This one given subject is dead and has no privacy rights.
    But the rest of us are alive and well, and DO have privacy rights, so this is clearly not a legal option.

    Also be very careful before pointing out the FBI may have lied about their capabilities in this area.
    After claiming they could decrypt any iPhone, there were lawsuits filed against the FBI to obtain specific details on which phone models and iOS versions they could or couldn't decrypt.
    This information was then classified as "secret", court documents were sealed, and the cases dismissed.

    Publicizing information from classified documents and court sealed records is a crime you'll very likely go to prison for committing.
    Even if you flee justice, say perhaps to Russia or something, also keep in mind around 60% of the American population still believes you are guilty of treason and believe you should be put to death as is allowed by law.

  34. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by sjames · · Score: 2

    Let's not forget how we got here. Once upon a time, phones didn't encrypt and nobody cared. Then we got secret courts with no working knowledge of the word no, an NSA that decided to ignore the bit about only spying on foreigners, an FBI that decided to get into the spy business, LEOs all the way down to the local yokels thinking it's OK to go fishing and read everyone's papers and effects based on less than probable cause as long as it's electronic, and judges bending over backwards to avoid addressing 4th and 5th amendment issues with all of the above.

    Now nobody trusts any of them (and with ample good reason) and wants strong encryption on their phones. Address all of the above and we can perhaps talk about finding them some way to get in, but only with a great deal more oversight than they have seen in the last 2 decades. No more taking their word for it, we know that's not worth a damn.

  35. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "suspected of stabbing 10 people". He was shot dead while doing it. WTF suspected? It might take all of one day to rule out two stabbers. What do you want, ten cameras on him?

  36. Apple favors rich people, shafts regular people. by sethstorm · · Score: 0

    Given that encryption came due to pressure from celebrities and Apple's failure to unlock to help cases impacting ordinary individuals, it's a bad thing.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  37. Re:Apple favors rich people, shafts regular people by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    Given that encryption came due to pressure from celebrities and Apple's failure to unlock to help cases impacting ordinary individuals, it's a bad thing.

    Citation?

  38. apple can make an ios build that does not auto by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    apple can make an ios build that does not auto wipe

  39. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by plover · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why should I give up my right to have a secure phone just because some idiot can't keep his sword in his scabbard? It doesn't matter what he's done or if he's alive or dead, I'm not required to have useless encryption on my devices.

    Sure, the police have the right to search his stuff all day long. They can disassemble his phone, unsolder the flash chip, clone it, and try PIN after PIN against the image as many times as they want. They can hire Bruce Schneier, they can subpoena Apple, they can send his phone to the NSA, they can even ask Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick it open. They absolutely have the right to try anything to get in to the phone. But they don't have the right to succeed. They don't have the right to make us make this task easier for them.

    And despite your most fervent wishing that some middle ground exists somewhere, the fact is no middle ground is possible. This is simple logic we're talking about here -- encrypted data is either secure, or it's broken. It's a boolean, not a tri-state value. And law enforcement and intelligence agencies have proven with every leaked secret that they abuse whatever trust or tools they're given, and the volume of abuse increases over time. They have constantly violated our rights and abused our trust, and every single time they start down that path the leaked data shows they've overextended their reach. It's not only irresponsible to trust them again, it's reckless. We can't trust them with a key escrow system, not even with a court protecting us - they'll just stand up another secret FISA court to get around the rules.

    Besides, the existing system worked pretty darn well. Bad guy starts stabbing people, policeman shoots him dead. I don't care what his stupid motives were, because they truly do not matter to anyone. Why should we bother giving his fetid ideas a single extra minute of daylight? Let his defective brain and rancid motives lie buried in the ground with the rest of his corpse in an unmarked grave, and never be shared with the public or media. It's not like learning his motives is useful to anyone. We can't just arrest people who simply share those ideas - people always have the right to think extremely stupid and anti-social thoughts; they just don't have the right to act on them.

    --
    John
  40. Once again, the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once again, the story "Oh, Woe is us! If only we had some way of getting into this impenetrable phone!!!" Ok so what really happens is this: FBI agent's boss tells him to go to Fort Meade Maryland, NSA headquarters. Take the phone with him. He gets to Fort Meade. Low level operative at NSA checks his credentials, and takes phone, offers him coffee, then gives coffee, takes phone. While the FBI guy waits in the lobby, the NSA guy takes the back off the phone, plugs a bespoke connector into the phone (bypassing operating system, just reading everything from memory chip). The complete memory is read, stored, and the famous "Acres of cores" is set to brute force any encryption. The phone is reassembled, and given back to the FBI guy. A second cup of coffee is offered. Before the FBI guy finishes the second cup, he is presented with an SD card, with the information on the phone. DONE!

  41. Apple Must Cooperate Now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Screw the paranoia, the incidence of these terrorist-inspired crimes isn't going down and the use of the phones is increasing. Apple is depriving legal investigators of information and should be held liable, if not also in contempt if they refuse assistance in accessing this data.

  42. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The current U.S. administration has said (at least in internal documents) that all conservative Christians are potential terrorists and are a bigger threat to security in the U.S. than ISIS. Since this policy has gone uncontested for at least 6 years despite all evidence and statistics to the contrary, I guess all the bureaucrats don't have a problem with this.

    Why would they ignore the reality of the Christian Dominionism movement? They have actually said and done many things, and are much closer to home than ISIS.

    ISIS can get a few wayward idiots to do occasional sprees of violence. Wow, we can get the same thing any day of the week from somebody who shouldn't be drinking, smoking, or left unsupervised. The Domionists are more likely to take over a city or town in the entirety. Subtly, securely, and viciously.

  43. "Mall stabber?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the second /. story with Alice's Restaurant callbacks! "Mother rapers... father stabbers... father rapers..."

  44. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would they ignore the reality of the Christian Dominionism movement?

    Because it is nonsense? If that is what you worry about you're probably in the social / political fringe. To be a little more plain about it: you might be a nutter.

  45. Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It may seem for some that there have always been iPhones and Samsung has always made smartphones but in point of fact, Samsung would be out of the phone business if there had never been an iPhone since their phone business wasn't really profitable and Nokia was the dominant force in the market unless you needed secure communications --then, you got a Blackberry. Then called Research in Motion (RIM), Blackberry, had their own servers and their own VPN and their text messages were not only encrypted, they could be made to disappear from the source after sending as well as from recipient after reading. Some governments had problems with this: China, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc... However, the US government had so many Blackberrys that it even protected RIM from patent infringement lawsuits and RIM is a Canadian company which forces one to ask why they were exempt from the Berry Amendment.

    Not that importing them from Canada is all that big a deal anyway. However, back then, law enforcement agencies did not whine constantly about how their efforts are hamstrung by criminals using encrypted communications; they investigated and used the evidence they found --rather than the evidence they wish they had-- and convicted far more criminals than in recent --read, fear mongering-- times. The crime rate in the country is the lowest it has been since before the Second World War and they are wont to admit it but it was the contamination of the air with leaded gasoline that was responsible for the rise and the elimination of the additive that resulted in a significant decrease in crime. Indeed, if the DEA would relax the ridiculous rules concerning marijuana, it is conceivable that the US could see a significant reduction in its prison population; perhaps enough so that truly repressive regimes would no longer be able to say that the US has more people in prison so they are not all that repressive.

    Asking the FBI to stop calling every moron a terrorist and to stop creating groups out of whole cloth (disorganized nutcases that blow up their own country 99% of the time do not become a group by either RNC or FBI fiat though it is understandable that they try in as much as the GOP is intellectually and morally bankrupt and all they have to sell is fear, four morons with a car they share because they can't afford four, are criminals, nothing more) out of convenience, self promotion, political expediency, or any of the myriad of assorted absurdities that seem like good ideas at the time but are clear idiocy once exposed to the light of day. While it is true that their failures are public and their successes private, the FBI has had some spectacular failures due to incompetent leadership with the same mindset as that possessed by a dog chasing a car. Waco may well have been the fault of the branch davidians but places like Ruby Ridge or Wounded Knee are a bit more difficult to sweep under the rug.

    The reason I've written all of that is to make this point (and after reading something, EVERYONE thinks they can be more succinct): the FBI is very shortsighted concerning privacy at a time when law enforcement in general can ill afford to generate further ill will amongst the populace. Moreover, it might be in their best interest to leave iOS devices as secure as possible since the Department of Defense has, for some time, generated significant savings in printing, transportation, and maintenance of maps by issuing iOS devices. Further, although they are prestige items, iOS are far from predominant in the rest of the world; Android OS phones represent 80% of all phones outside the US. Therefore, if the intent is to prevent acts of terrorism [sic] (fear-mongering+reckless criminal act+nonsense political dribble = "terrorism") the iPhone is far from being the best target. Furthermore, if the FBI pursuit of the iPhone is seen as a tacit admission of the non secure nature of Android then perhaps the Android fandom might take note of that rather than producing all manner of statements that boil down to "I hate Ap

  46. Re:Apple favors rich people, shafts regular people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Congratulations. That is the stupidest thing I have heard all day.

  47. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The reality is that police do have a right, with a court order to search everything related to you, especially if you commit multiple attempted murders.

    Absolutely not. The police can only a warrant for access to specific devices and forms of information, and only if they can show reasonable grounds for needing that information. The keywords are "specific" and "articulable". The court order can ONLY be valid if this is true: the mere existence of a court order does not convey any authority if that order is not actually consistent with the law (including all rights the public might choose to assert under the 9th Amendment - rights retained by the people) and the 10th Amendment - rights reserved to the people.

    These rules were developed a long time ago, and for good reason: far more harm gets done to any rational society by abuse of government authority then by the misconduct of a few (which can be stopped by direct action).

    Thanks for the knee-jerk response on this issue, try reading a little history so you might be able to have an informed opinion in the future. You might start by trying to understand just how much death, destruction, and misery was caused by government misuse of authority around the world during the 20th century - not that long ago. The US government seems to be heading in the same direction as some of those states responsible for most of the problems in the last century.

    The public has a vested interest in knowing if you had any co-conspirators among other things.

    If there are specific and articulable grounds for supposing that co-conspirators exist, then a warrant will probably be issued. In the absence of such grounds, any search that exceeds the warrants actually issued is illegal conduct on the part of the law enforcement officers.

  48. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Agripa · · Score: 1

    If we say that encryption must have back doors "because terrorists" then aren't we saying that any group that is out of favor politically should loose their 4th & 5th amendment rights?

    They want to deny 2nd amendment rights to those placed on the no-fly list so why not?

  49. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Agripa · · Score: 1

    The device always contains a decryption key... it's just a matter of how hard it is to get to... and it may not actually be located in flash memory.

    The device may only contain the decryption key in the same sense that the device contains the plaintext. If the decryption key is produced from data stored in the device and data entered by the user, then a brute force attack will depend on whichever one has the least entropy which will normally be the user's key. Usually this is small because large passwords are inconvenient but if the password is strong, then there will be no practical attack which relies only on the device.

    I like the thought that this intersects with copyright law. The time and resources needed to brute force the cryptographic key is "limited" in the same sense that the Supreme Court ruled that any definite duration specified by Congress is limited. So if it only takes a "limited" amount of time to brute force any cryptographic key, why is the FBI complaining?

  50. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Agripa · · Score: 1

    That's an easy answer, nothing for free. The government is willing to pay for this work. No involved is talking about unpaid work.

    I want to see the government pay for a brute force attack against a strong key. Given the rate of currency inflation, it will be practically free.

  51. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Agripa · · Score: 1

    How much time and money and leverage do you need to decipher a message encrypted with a one time pad that was burned to ash in the explosion?

    It takes the same amount of time and money to decipher a message encrypted with 128 bit AES or any equivalently strong cypher and key, all of it.

  52. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Crypto like AES is only theoretically secure, and we know the spooks have had their hands in the design all major crypto algorithms in use today.

    XOR is mathematically proven.

  53. Apple favors rich people, screws regular people. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Given that encryption came due to pressure from immodestly exposed celebrities and Apple's failure to unlock to help cases impacting decent, hard-working, ordinary individuals, it's a bad thing.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  54. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's that got to do with the Warp Drive inventor?

  55. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Agripa · · Score: 1

    It would certainly be pretty big and devastating news if it was discovered that AES was compromised and even more so that it was compromised by design. There are alternatives to AES like the 4 other finalists of the Advanced Encryption Standard process: MARS, RC6, Serpent, and Twofish.

  56. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That said I am all for strong encryption on all electronics. I think the best solution is some middle ground. I don't know where that middle ground is.

    Strong encryption protects you from all bad actors, including governmental actors. No encryption protects you from no one. There is no viable middle ground. Weak encryption only protects you from incompetents, and only helps the government against incompetent terrorists. Any back door will be abused or compromised.

  57. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For some reason, I could not upvote your comment but I wanted to congratulate you because it is very insightful and well written. I only wish other people would put the thought you have into their comments.

  58. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1

    There is no third option for encryption right now, but that does not mean there can never be one. You argue that there are only two solutions, either good encryption or weak security, and while that may be true right now, and may even always be true from a technical standpoint, there may be other creative options available over time. Maybe it boils down to as you said pulling the phone memory physically and then cloning it and running every possible password until it works. As long as there is a way to get at the info on the phone for sufficiently important situations. OTOH, I do kinda wonder if this is all a kabuik theater where the feds have figured out an easy crack (or Apple handed it to them under the table) and they are doing this to try and shift all the Islamic terrorists to use Apple products.

    If we had a single, mentally deranged individual I would tend to agree with you that once he is dead, the rest is a non-issue. The problem arises when it is neither an isolated individual nor an isolated incident. What you have with radical Islam is essentially a fragmented conspiracy around a certain set of ideas. These guys are usually killed, but it is a 50% chance that he was not alone and he either had money or other forms of assistance/encouragement to do what he did.

    Islam has ~1 billion active followers globally and around 3.3 million in the US. 25% of US muslims think violent jihad is OK against their fellow Americans, at the very least should be doing our best to gather information on any and all who back or support violence against us.

    http://www.breitbart.com/natio...

    And before anyone complains about Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims, that is a canard. We are all adults here and fully capable of discerning the difference between normal, peaceful fellow citizens who also happen to be Muslims and those radicals who want to do us harm. That is probably why Muslims only accounted for 16% of US hate crimes, vs 57% against Jews.

    http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/mi...

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
  59. Re:The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out ther by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    I see nothing that goes against the fourth or fifth here.

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

    No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor 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.

    For the Fifth in fact, it doesn't even apply, the guy is dead.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  60. Re: The new line for the Johnnie Cochran's out the by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    https://assets.documentcloud.o...

    The actual court order did not compel Apple to do anything for free, and offered one possible way for them to do it, but also left Apple open to suggest another method. It asked Apple to do an estimate of how much they wanted to be paid, and the way they wanted to do it, to be approved by the FBI.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?