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Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah, that's a laugh. If it were an Android phone, the feds wouldn't have had to call anyone. They'd have just broken the device's security and gotten what they wanted. Only Apple takes security seriously .

This is one of those citations needed statements. I have played with cyanogen with LUKS, luks nuke (a simple password that destroys the keys), firewall and tor without google services. And you can even make yourself a dead man's switch that will erase the keys dd if=/dev/zero - you know the drill if some condition is not met. The best part - even if google can make custom version of the OS it won't help the least. It…

Of course you can secure your own device yourself.

But if you buy Apple you won't have to.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tim Cook is the only one doing the right thing here. Because it was Tim Cook who was dragged into this mess. What if the shooter had an Android phone, rather than an iPhone? I'm sure Lary Page would be penning a similar letter, in that situation.

Hah, that's a laugh. If it were an Android phone, the feds wouldn't have had to call anyone. They'd have just broken the device's security and gotten what they wanted. Only Apple takes security seriously .

I would wager that the FBI and CIA are technically capable of breaking the security on this phone. This is likely more about setting legal precedent via a case that is very much in the public eye.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#34

I'm not really surprised that other companies aren't coming out of the woodwork to make themselves targets. It's clear that in the main they will hold similarly strong views to Apple, but any PR worth their salt will not want the CEO of a company not implicated in something as politically charged as this to enter into the discussion. For those who oppose this kind of behaviour by the US Government, it's a relief that…

This doesn't sound as a freedom of speech but more as oppressive government. Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear.

> Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear.

Not people—companies.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of those citations needed statements. I have played with cyanogen with LUKS, luks nuke (a simple password that destroys the keys), firewall and tor without google services. And you can even make yourself a dead man's switch that will erase the keys dd if=/dev/zero - you know the drill if some condition is not met. The best part - even if google can make custom version of the OS it won't help the least. It…

Of course you can secure your own device yourself. But if you buy Apple you won't have to.

And in that case FBI will load their custom OS and open it. The entropy provided by the user in the apple current security solution is just too little for the device to not be vulnerable.

Apple tried to do it by providing also their own key, but that helps little when a dedicated agency has physical access to the device. And legal hammer to compel Apple to spill the beans.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#37

What sets Apple apart from Googles and Facebooks is that it's the only company that stores the data in way that Apple itself cannot read it. This is why the others have little to say on the subject - there is no issue of a "backdoor", because there is no wall to begin with when it comes to Google or FB, their business model depends on reading and analyzing your emails and posts.

This just made me realise that Apple is a true "do no evil" company and not Google, for all its technology powress and fancy marketing. A sad realisation as I have been using Google products for almost everything-- they pitch up everything under the F/OSS banner and it's so tempting.

I think I should consider moving to iOS pretty seriously. I had been dismissing it for being over-priced and not being OSS. But the true fact of the matter is, the extra cost might be worth it, because frankly, Android without Google Apps and the Google Play Services is absolutely useless.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#39
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't sound as a freedom of speech but more as oppressive government. Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear.

> Something wrong if people don't want to express their opinions because of fear. Not people—companies.

They have the same free speech rights as people, so companies arguably do have opinions.

Re: Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry Response

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course you can secure your own device yourself. But if you buy Apple you won't have to.

And in that case FBI will load their custom OS and open it. The entropy provided by the user in the apple current security solution is just too little for the device to not be vulnerable. Apple tried to do it by providing also their own key, but that helps little when a dedicated agency has physical access to the device. And legal hammer to compel Apple to spill the beans.

This article explains the situation nicely:

http://blog.trailofbits.com/2016/02/17/apple-can-comply-with...

The short answer is, Apple compensates for the low entropy of 4 digit PINs by rate-limiting the number of guesses you can make.

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