back to article You won't believe this, but… nothing useful found on Farook iPhone

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 …

  1. G R Goslin

    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.

    1. redpawn

      Re: Honest

      Would have expected them to put stuff in the phone. Why waste a good opportunity to pin something on someone. Perhaps too many eyes on the phone at the time of cracking.

    2. Ole Juul

      Re: Honest

      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.

      1. oolor
        Coat

        Re: Honest

        >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.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Honest

      They ARE the Law.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Honest

        It would have been much simpler to have just asked the third person involved in the incident - but oddly enough all mention of him has been scrubbed.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Honest

        They ARE the Law.

        Actually, that is exactly the problem. They are NOT, but would *love* to be, hence the shenanigans.

        And then they wonder why nobody trusts them.

        1. subject

          Re: Honest

          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".

  2. Captain Badmouth
    FAIL

    Wot? No cat videos?

    Some mistake, shirley....?

    1. jonathanb Silver badge

      On a work phone? Not surprising. It will just be boring work related stuff that is already on his employer's Exchange server.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        FAIL

        Re: jonathanb

        "....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?

        1. jonathanb Silver badge

          Re: jonathanb

          Contacts, yes, if you save them to an Exchange account. The phone company will have a less accuate version of the GPS log. The other stuff won't be on a work phone.

    2. J. R. Hartley

      And don't call me Shirley.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

    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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

      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.)

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: DougS Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

        "....to get anything to pass...." It's called an executive order, go look it up. Obambi has been very fond of them since the Democrats lost their majority.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Executive orders

          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.

        2. grandpamike1

          Re: DougS It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

          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

        3. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
          Mushroom

          Re: DougS It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

          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

          1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
            FAIL

            Re: Throaty. Re: DougS It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

            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.

      2. theModge

        Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels (UK version)

        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.

        1. paulf
          Thumb Up

          Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels (UK version)

          As described in Yes, [Prime] Minister:

          The civil service is really the government.

          The Government is really the opposition.

          The Opposition is really the opposition in Exile.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

      "...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.

    3. Rich 11 Silver badge

      Re: It's time for government in general to stop being weasels...

      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.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "armed forces are the only exception"

        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.

  4. Tomato42
    Facepalm

    what? no latent cyber pathogens?! inconceivable!

    this whole ordeal was pathetic on USGov part...

  5. RIBrsiq
    WTF?

    Well, I never...!!

    I am absolutely flummoxed and flabbergasted at this most unforeseen development!

    Positively shocked and perplexed, am I, indeed...

    !!!!!!

    1. Arctic fox
      WTF?

      @RIBrsiq "I am absolutely flummoxed and flabbergasted at this most unforeseen development!"

      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".

      1. Pedigree-Pete
        Happy

        Re: @RIBrsiq "I am absolutely flummoxed and flabbergasted at this most unforeseen development!"

        Yeh! You politico creeps.

        Stop in the name of Love.

        1. Bernard M. Orwell

          Re: @RIBrsiq "I am absolutely flummoxed and flabbergasted at this most unforeseen development!"

          "Stop in the name of Love."

          I would, but what IS love?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    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.

    1. Mark 85

      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.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @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.

    2. Bloodbeastterror

      "would a Jihadi really use an iPhone"

      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?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "would a Jihadi really use an iPhone"

        Yes I do actually believe that people that hate us (US mainly) for reasons known (middle east stupid wars and foreign policy) would actually choose not to use iPhones for that reason.

        1. lglethal Silver badge
          Go

          Re: "would a Jihadi really use an iPhone"

          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...

    3. james 68

      " Apple is an all american product ", I don't think that means what you think it means.

      *cough*madeinchina*cough*

  7. chivo243 Silver badge
    Meh

    I called it

    but not surprised at the findings. History will call this another stepping stone in stamping out people's privacy...

    Win or lose, gubbermint 3 letters have at least set the idea in motion. Not sure how we stand now...

  8. goldcd

    *grins*

    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.

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: *grins*

      "So the NSA admitted they couldn't crack couldn't be arsed to look at something pointless, but others could"

      Fixed that for you...

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: goldcd Re: *grins*

      "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.

  9. Mark 85

    Last line in the article...

    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

    1. GrumpyOldBloke

      Re: Last line in the article...

      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.

    2. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Last line in the article...

      Very simple answer to the last line, they are liars at best and at worst traitors.

  10. cosymart
    Holmes

    Hanlon's Razor

    Some people are making assumptions that Governments (and Departments) are intelligent.... I give you Hanlon's Razor: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hanlon's Razor

      But eventually stupidity has to stop being used as an excuse not to punish.

    2. Swarthy

      Re: Hanlon's Razor

      I see your Hanlon's razor and raise you Clark's law: "sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice".

      1. Afernie

        Re: Hanlon's Razor

        "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."

  11. d3vy

    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.

    1. jamesb2147

      Funny thing about crime

      "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.

    2. petur
      Coat

      maybe he didn't destroy the work phone because they have a tough sysadmin?

  12. Mitoo Bobsworth

    Another glass turd from the authorities

    It was never about the info on that phone, it is about more access, more intrusion, more control. The more detail & background reportage that came out on the incident, the more transparent the feds' bullshit became.

  13. Sgt_Oddball

    at least..

    When this all blows over the health department can get a good trade-in value.

    It being an iPhone an ' all that.

  14. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    I'd still like to know who the "third party" is.

    1. Alumoi Silver badge
      Trollface

      Third party

      Chinese, Russian, Asian, Romanian hacker. Pick one. Anyone.

  15. Blofeld's Cat
    Black Helicopters

    Oh dear ...

    Never mind, they can always upload "something useful" to it now they have access.

    [FX: Silenced rotor blades]

    Not that they would ever dream of doing that of course ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Read only access...

      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...

  16. j88per

    encryption

    I liked how everyone was screaming for encryption to be broken and it was only a few years ago, when Snowden released the NSA dump and then they were all calling for stronger encryption. ya can't have it both ways!

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Um, you might want to turn your TV back on. Apparently many US politicians are still screaming for encryption to be broken - and most of them are the candidates.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ahh yeah, as if they would say what they got off the phone. More likely they had someone leak that they found nothing.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What I find interesting

    Is that American Government job issued phones don't have management software on them.

  19. GrumpyKiwi

    No intelligence found on phone - or at the FBI.

  20. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    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.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...smashed up hard drives and other digital media..."

    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'.

    1. Allan George Dyer
      Coat

      Re: "...smashed up hard drives and other digital media..."

      MoD: Leave laptop on train.

      FTFY.

    2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: "A square cm of platter would still contain huge chunks of data"

      I'd really be interested in knowing how one would arrange reading just one square centimetre of a broken HDD platter when all you have is that piece of it.

      Electron microscope, maybe ?

      1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: "A square cm of platter would still contain huge chunks of data"

        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.

  22. Stevie

    Bah!

    Or maybe the Third Party on the Grassy Knoll couldn't crack the phone after all.

    Or maybe the Third Party doesn't really exist.

  23. a_yank_lurker

    one issue

    The phone was an attempt for a precedent so the ferals would not need to do leave the donut shop or so they thought. The metadata would be grounds for some visits and an abbreviated session of 20 questions.

  24. x 7

    So what did you expect them to say? If they did find any info, they are not going to say so. They don't want to alarm any other suspects. This is simply disinformation

  25. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    Oblig quote from the Bard.

    "Much ado about nothing"

    that leads to

    "A Comety of Errors."

    Then again, Dickens had it right with

    "Bleak House".

    1. Captain Badmouth
      Headmaster

      Re: Oblig quote from the Bard.

      "A Comety of Errors."

      You got that right. :)

  26. gnufrontier

    On the "stupiidity" of people

    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.

    1. Mikey

      Re: On the "stupiidity" of people

      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!

    2. hplasm
      Pirate

      Re: On the "stupiidity" of people

      " Most humans are born with a brain that prefers conformity to society."

      Not all of them...

    3. batfink

      Re: On the "stupiidity" of people

      amanfrommars - Is that you? Have you temporarily changed your name to "gnufrontier" to confuse the surveillance teams?

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No useful intelligence..

    .. in either phone or the FBI.

    No news, then. The probability was remote as it was - there was no way these people were going to store important data on the phone that THEY thought to be properly enrolled in an MDM...

  28. mrjohn

    The dog that doesn't bark

    "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

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Work Phone...

    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?

  30. clocKwize

    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.

  31. Sil

    No choice

    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 ?

    1. Queasy Rider

      Re: Image (sic) if they just threw it away

      Fer gawd's sake, how stupid do you think the people on this thread are? To believe ANY agency would throw away a phone in such a high profile case? Yes, the FBI screwed up the password thing, but your straw man argument beggars belief.

  32. DubyaG

    Merger

    What do you expect from the Ministry of Truth and Justice? (They merged in 2001).

  33. Ozwest

    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...

  34. Ozwest

    Sorry, wrong thread, I re-posted on The Brexit debate thread.

  35. unitron
    Big Brother

    Minority Report

    If we'd known in advance that this fellow was so un-American as to only use his work phone for work stuff, we'd have been forewarned.

  36. Daniel B.

    No shit Sherlock

    Nobody expected anything to be in the phone. The FBI wanted a test case.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anne Elk

    The other day upon the device

    I saw data that mightn't have been nice

    It could have been a drag

    But we've been left holding the bag

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