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Apple Is Building An Online Portal For Police To Make Data Requests (cnet.com)
In a letter last Tuesday to Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Apple said it is working on an online portal for law enforcement officials to submit and track requests for data and obtain responses from the company. Apple also said it's "creating a dedicated team to help train law enforcement officials around the world in digital forensics," reports CNET. From the report: The letter, seen by CNET, addresses recommendations made in a report issued earlier this year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) regarding cybersecurity and the "digital evidence needs" of law enforcement agencies. Apple said in the letter that it's eager to adopt the report's recommendations, including making upgrades to its law enforcement training program. This includes developing an online training module for police that mirrors Apple's current in-person training, according to the letter and to details on the company's website.
"This will assist Apple in training a larger number of law enforcement agencies and officers globally, and ensure that our company's information and guidance can be updated to reflect the rapidly changing data landscape," the site says. Apple also reiterated in the letter that it's "committed to protecting the security and privacy of our users" and that company initiatives and "the work we do to assist investigations uphold this fundamental commitment."
"This will assist Apple in training a larger number of law enforcement agencies and officers globally, and ensure that our company's information and guidance can be updated to reflect the rapidly changing data landscape," the site says. Apple also reiterated in the letter that it's "committed to protecting the security and privacy of our users" and that company initiatives and "the work we do to assist investigations uphold this fundamental commitment."
I mean, seriously, have we not learned anything about the government's, or any government's ability to abuse their power?
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Why scare people? Because it has happened before. Cops looking up details of celebrities because they are bored, or details on their ex' new boyfriend to see if there's anything that can ruin that relationship, or in case of bent cops: details on cases having to do with their criminal friends. Some of these cops have been caught because there was good (fine grained) authorisation mechanism in place, a detailed audit trail, and alerts on suspicious activities. But a lot of these systems don't have any of that. So: we scare people so they demand that sufficient security and monitoring is put in place.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
"How they did it before? They have no idea how to work with the police?"
It's just a small script returning a line saying:
'Sorry, the data you want is encrypted and we don't have the password.'
It replaces 200 telephone operators reading that line from a monitor.