Honest
I'm sorry, but I don't think that you can use 'government' and 'honest', in the same sentence.. Particularly if 'US' also appears in the same sentence.
The iPhone at the center of the huge public fight between the FBI and Apple has "nothing of real significance" on it – just as we suspected. CBS News reports it has been told by a "law enforcement source" that the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook does not contain any information of practical assistance in the …
>Speaking of honesty; has anybody seen any real proof that the FBI actually did crack that phone? I haven't seen any yet but perhaps I missed it.
Oh they cracked it alright. The only thing in question is the colour and style of women's lingerie they were wearing at the time.
>>>I'd be the the one in a tasteful bedgown.
No. They're above the law - well above it. The test is whether they can and will be prosecuted for any unlawful decisions. And that's why the so-called "war on terror" already has been catastrophically lost. In response to relatively trivial death tolls we turned our own nations into moral wastelands, destroying the rule of law and with it everything for which we thought our nations stood, even before we started turning the "wrong" nations (never Saudi Arabia) into physical wastelands. The problem is not the surveillance agencies - it's the policing agencies and local government that convert all petty crime into national security issues.
We, of the moral high ground, bombed the people of Syria over 22,000 times last year. And we whine when one or two of them go all entrepreneurial and bomb us back. It'll get much worse when our own people start using our own asymnetric warfare techniques (first deployed in acts of war against Iran by the USA and Israel) against us. Nothing to do with religion. When enough people with a grievance, including the non-religious disaffected middle classes, learn cyber-warfare, God help us. The Panama papers is just an appetiser. Who needs foreign enemies when we make enemies of our own people? Without the consent of the governed, governments are nothing.
"I have seen the enemy, and he is us".
"....It will just be boring work related stuff that is already on his employer's Exchange server." Yes, of course, because MS Exchange also records all SMS messages, the contacts, photos, the Apple email messages, the GPS log, Gmail, etc., and tells you what third-party social media apps have been used on an Apple phone.... Oh, sorry, you probably need a sarc tag, right?
Anybody who looks at the current presidential races in the U.S. can see that a lot of the anger out there is about the conviction that you can tell when the government is lying to you, because some politician's or civil servant's lips are moving. This plus ongoing polling numbers that show that negative public perceptions are at historic heights for just about every government institution (Basically, the armed forces are the only exception).
The level of suspicion towards government motives is getting very corrosive. And our leaders continue to tolerate and even encourage words and actions that increase the suspicion even more.
The government is basically in denial about this. The Washington establishment (which is a single unit with two divisions indicated by a D and an R) views the support for "outsiders" like Trump on the right and Sanders on the left to be an aberration.
Even if one of them should become president, their ability to really effect any significant change will be nonexistent because nearly everyone in congress owes their allegiance to the current system, because it guarantees them a job for life and an even more lucrative job as a lobbyist should they lose an election.
While nothing stops an anti-establishment guy from running and winning a primary, and a seat on the house or senate, they have to play ball with their party to some extent to be able to wield much power via committee assignments, etc. Even with a lot of them in congress, how can a president Trump or president Sanders get enough of them focused on the same goals to get anything to pass against the combined might of establishment republicans and democrats who are too invested in the current system to want real change (i.e. trying to pass a constitutional amendment to reform campaign finance, enact term limits, etc.)
If presidents could do whatever they want via executive order, it wouldn't matter who is in congress, because the president would be an emperor and do whatever he wants.
Can Trump make Mexico pay for the wall via executive order? No. Can Bernie make college free via executive order? No. Can Cruz make all abortions illegal via executive order? No. Can Hillary raise the minimum wage via executive order? No.
Sure, presidents can do some things at the margins via executive order, since every president pushes that boundary just a little bit further every term. Yeah, the democrats whined about Bush's overreach during his presidency, and now it is the republicans turn to whine about Obama's overreach. But neither side truly cares, because they know before long the shoe will be on the other foot and it will be their guy who pushes the boundary just a little bit further.
Now what happens if an "outsider" takes office and tries to do something that isn't partisan, but something anti-establishment (i.e. anti Washington powers that be) that neither side really wants? They'll quickly pass a law an overrule him, or if that's not possible and the stakes are big enough, vote to impeach for his unconstitutional action.
I will make an assumption here, you are a Republican, and dislike President Obama, who by the way, was elected and re-elected by a majority of Americans. Your disdain, notwithstanding, the actual EO he has used is one of the lowest in modern history, You can fact check this,, on reputable news sites, not RW media or RW blogs, or even Snopes. The following is just one factoid, but it is representative of legitimate news sources.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php
Okay, mods, I will not personally insult Matt Bryant, no matter how tempting, personally satisfying, or popular it may be. However, I am going to repost the link that was in my original, now-killed-with-fire response:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php
Your link does not disprove that Obambi is very fond of executive orders now that the Dems have lost their majority. It also does not explain how someone like POTUS Trumpet (shudder) would somehow be blocked from the use of executive orders just because you want it to be so.
Over this side of the pond were an entire party to resign en masse and be replaced by honest candidates and get in (none of these things are going to happen) then it STILL wouldn't make any difference because the civil service here can be mighty obstinate when they don't get their way and thus we'd still be governed by the same people.
"...anger....government is lying..."
So in protest, they're supporting a loony candidate who is a pathological liar, unable to even avoid blatant inconsistencies from one end of a spittle-laced irrational sentence to the other.
This plus ongoing polling numbers that show that negative public perceptions are at historic heights for just about every government institution (Basically, the armed forces are the only exception).
And only an exception now because they've got such a long way to go to match the dizzying height of Abu Ghraib.
That's really only because one party wraps itself in the flag and supports the troops as a form of nationalism, with everyone (except, in some cases, Trump) trying to out-patriotic the next, while the other party feels lingering guilt for the shitty way they treated the troops in the days of Vietnam and their current level of support is a form of overcompensation.
Plus everyone realizes that the troops are just people, who were served a shit sandwich with the wars they've been asked to fight and how they've been asked to fight them. The blame really belongs with the people giving the orders, from today's commander in chief and his predecessor, along with the ridiculously bloated assortment of generals who still think they are fighting WW II and/or the Soviet Union.
Indeed. My flabber has never been so gasted. How I am expected to get over the shock here I do not know. Who could have known? Choice of icon - what else?
On a slightly more serious note this makes a large contribution to revealing the FBI's fishing expedition for what it is. A totally unscrupulous attempt to create new judicial "facts on the ground". I am utterly convinced that their decision to go with this attempt to strong-arm Cupertino (and I am not one of the Fruity Company's fans, God knows) was an attempt to gain powers that have never been granted them by Congress and/or been tested in front of the "Supremes".
Was anything useful ever found on an iPhone?
Joking aside, I'm a little curious, Apple are a US company which is the country of infidels and Apple is an all american product so would a Jihadi really use an iPhone also considering the cheaper Android alternatives? I am aware this was his work phone but the general consensus here is for Apple to open them up to the US government which given the target demographic doesn't make any sense at all.
I wonder if at some point we get a Snowden MK 2 where we actually get to find out exactly what the governments are really up to and what their intentions are. This isn't some tin foil hat comment but the more I see of this and other stories the more I have to question the motives.
The jihadis use whatever tools they can is the simple answer. There's no cell phones/smart phones made in any of the jihadi countries. Just like weapons... they have either buy, steal, or capture them. I've noticed the same thing you did but in the weapons and tech arena. They're against it, but they use it.
@Mark 85
Thanks, I didn't consider the arms side of the philosophy. I suppose death by hot dog would be the ultimate irony.
Just to be clear for the down voters though, as it may be difficult for some Americans to grasp the concept but when I said "country of infidels" I was actually referring to the perception of others and not my own opinion.
p.s. Irony is not anything Alanis Morissette ever sang, that's why the song was called ironic.
I'm sorry, but with the best will in the world that is a really stupid comment. Sorry. Do you really think that a nutcase willing the destruction of the western world considers the device or operating system? Seriously?
And this was *always* going to be the outcome of this ludicrous case. Everything that this phone touched was already registered - every number in, every number out. Unless this madman got accomplices to pose for photos (duh...) what could the security services possibly have gleaned from it?
Salafists (like IS) believe that the world should return to the time when Mohammed walked the Earth. but ever notice how they have no problem with using weapons more advanced then Swords, modern medicine and things like Social Media to get their message across.
Hypocrisy is the term I believe...
So the NSA admitted they couldn't crack something others could.
The FBI now admit they'd paid the "third party" to get absolutely nothing of any use.
I'm not pro-terrorism, but for some reason this all makes me feel smug.
I *think* it's because it symbolizes nicely that once again our governments are f'in useless.
And I'm not quite sure why that makes me feel happy either.
Best I can come up with, is that when I first strayed online I suddenly felt there was a 'new world'. A place beyond existing borders and control (I'd hopped on a ship and discovered ~the Americas). A place to be free (for better or worse - and mainly it was filled with lovely people).
Since then the existing world seems to feel it can encroach - and my gut instinct is to resist them for every inch.
The irony that it's America doing the encroaching, isn't lost on me.
"So the NSA admitted they couldn't crack something others could...." Er, no. The NSA simply decided not to help the FBI, which is a totally different thing to saying they could not hack the iPhone at will. It was in the NSA's interest to see if the court case could force Apple to build a backdoored for iOS.
It does, however, put another question mark over how honest the FBI has been and continues to be in this case.
It does, however, put another question mark over how honest the FBI has been and continues to be in this case as well as any other case of this nature involving encryption.
FTFY
As well as any other case of this nature.
Too many false flags to advance an agenda to believe the official story this time. Didn't fit the eye witness accounts, a previous police rehearsal at the site and the contamination of *evidence* at the suspects apartment by media rampage. Good Bonnie and Clyde story for the TV though with that shot out SUV.
"I see your Hanlon's razor and raise you Clark's law: "sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice"."
I see your Hanlon's razor and Clark's law, and raise you Heinlein's Razor:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - but don't rule out malice."
What a f*cking surprise.
Let's look at the fact (as ive read them)
He had three phones and destroyed two of them.
Odds are he knew there was nothing on it.
It was a work phone... Who in their right mind would use a phone that your employer can take back and possibly access to plan anything dodgy.
"It's only the stupid people that get caught." -- Cop friend of mine.
The point I'm making is that it was worth checking because there are plenty of idiots out there, or even intelligent folk who know what they're doing but (spoiler!) make mistakes. In terms of logical argument, the fact that there's nothing on the phone changes absolutely nothing. The equation is the same. In the court of public opinion, this would have some weight... if it were reported on, if people cared, and/or if people weren't absolutely ignorant about basically everything.
People are idiots. He who commands the cognitive dissonance of the world controls it.
That has crossed my mind, too. Perhaps the FBI want RW access so the can put terrorist cat videos on the phone.
Either way, the guy was a good corporate citizen. He only used his personal phone for terrorism and the work provided phone for work.
You've got to have some principles...
Given that they found nothing "useful" on the phone leaves the claim that it was cracked open to question to anyone who takes an evidence-based view of such matters. So does the fact that they haven't disclosed how they're supposed to have cracked it. Or who did it except that it wasn't the company that commentators expected it to be.
They have retreated from a situation which worked out unexpectedly bad for them in PR terms and done so with face intact.
Smashing up (assuming these words are accurate) doesn't really get very far down the road to secure destruction. A square cm of platter would still contain huge chunks of data. A square mm of flash drive might contain a whole raft of files. Any forensic expert worth their groceries could extract vast amounts of info from the fragments.
MoD: Secure Erase, smash up, grind to dust, heat dust well above the Curie temperature, load the ash into barrels, place the barrels in a locked and monitored dungeon under an old castle, within a secure Military base, and keep them there 'forever'.
My usual HD destruction method is to remove the platters and bend them into pretty shapes. The stresses alone will destroy most of the magnetic information. Good luck reading the rest. I guess my discarded cat video porn is safe.
For those who are not intelligent design/creationists, it would be a good time to revisit the principles of evolutionary theory. Just as we were not created neither were societies. Our future as a species is not dependent on smartness. Which of our individual biological functions is controlled by us ? Yes, we do get toilet trained but our control is quite limited in that area. If allowed to eat as much as we want in a single sitting , we also would quickly come up against a limit beyond our control and the same can be said for holding our breath. Just as evolution has resulted in our biological systems being mostly autonomic, the same can be said for that adaptation we call society. Most humans are born with a brain that prefers conformity to society. This must be the case because without that preference societies could not exist. In a real sense, conformity is much more important than what we like to think of as intelligence. For reasons that have nothing to do with concern for the masses, leadership through inheritance passed from the scene. This meant that an alternate mechanism had to come into existence for leadership to be determined. If to be a leader one must marshal a following, it is self-evident that those who are best at marshaling a following will end up leading. One would do better to realize that democracy is really a form closer to marketing than the myth of a well informed citizenry choosing a leader from among their own.
I would really, REALLY love to know where this was going, but it seems to have wandered off the path of rationality and into the soggy ditch of incoherence. What I THINK you seem to be saying, is that we like being in an ordered system, regardless of how badly it's being run. And that those who are good at leading will end up leading. That certainly didn't need a massive wall of unformatted test to say, however. Even amanfromars1 has a better grasp of paragraphs.
And after all that, what on earth has said comment got to do with the subject at hand? This is an article on how nothing important was found on a phone most guessed was useless, not a diatribe on the intricacies of human biology and social development.
You could have just said the FBI has idiots in charge, would have been MUCH easier to read and agree with!
"Regardless, the FBI used the existence of the phone and the shocking nature of the crime to wage a public war with Apple over encryption and access to electronic goods. "
And if they hadn't made every effort to unlock the phone you would be criticising them for not following every lead.
"Just shows how lame they are they can't even hack a phone" would have been the tenor of the conversation from the almighty enlightened tech savants
I missed that.
I know my wok phone's encryption key has a master key held by the IT people at my workplace - just in case I forget the key.
In the case of this work iPhone, wouldn't the companies IT policy mean that a similar key was held with the IT admin team at the company?
The FBI don't know the procedure to unlock it? So they just let some random guy/company have their possibly important piece of evidence to unlock it, without any idea how they were going to do it?
If i were the FBI, I'd want to know exactly what was being done and how it worked to ensure that it wouldn't in any way damage any evidence on the phone..
What if they attempted it and then it triggered the wipe procedure? Whoops sorry guys.. They'd have thought about that situation and would have sense checked what was going on themselves first.
The FBI had no choice but to search for information on this phone to conduct its exhaustive investigation.
Image if they just threw it away, it fell into the hands of a media organization that cracked it and found vital information on the San Bernardino Shooting. Would you be one of the people criticizing the FBI and asking for resignations ?
As an Australian, we welcome immigrants, provided they meet strict criteria and are able to contribute. Europeans must be rolling in money with a social services infrastructure the envy of the world, jobs aplenty, and budgets in surplus. Brussels is the hub of efficiency! Wish we could be so generous...