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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

#151

Post by eridius »

Oletros wrote: post #146
eridius wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough, it's certainly possible that the stat is no longer true. Unless they've talked about it recently, it's hard to know for sure. Here's an article from May of 2015 that says that 75% of Google's mobile search revenue comes from iOS, which probably hasn't changed too dramatically since then, but it may no longer be accurate: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/27/apples-ios-drives-...

> Here's an article from May of 2015 that says that 75% of Google's mobile search revenue comes from iOS, Ah, the other figure from a report from Goldman Sachs that nobody has seen but it is now dogma. When you find the report, please, put it. And, by the way, using Appleinsider as source is very funny

It is funny, but it was the first result my search gave me. The result after was from another site that reported the same figure though, so it's not like AppleInsider was alone.

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

#152

Post by eridius »

Oletros wrote: post #144
eridius wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been stated in numerous articles over the years. I don't have any source offhand, though a quick DDG search gives me a story from 2012: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/29/iphone-4x-revenue-an...

> It's been stated in numerous articles over the years Then it will be easy to find any source that it is not the same old "Google makes 4 times more from iOS than from Android" that was debunked years ago for using assumptions about a royalty figure in the Oracle vs. Google trial and nothing real

Here's an article from last year claiming that Google made 75% of its mobile search revenue from iOS: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/27/apples-ios-drives-...

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

#153

Post by Phlarp »

mentat wrote: post #129
petra wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be possible that the government want to lose in this case(and in the media) - creating a strong illusion that the iPhone is 100% safe from spying ? How valuable such an illusion would be ?

Most people who think about this stuff often seem to think that TAO already has access and the only purpose is to create a precedent to use this legal process against anyone.

Do you really think that the information in this phone is otherwise beyond the reach of all mankind? Spare a few snowflake engineers and managers at Apple?

There are dozens if not hundreds of viable methods to obtain this info, FBI is choosing to pursue the court order route instead of any of the other forensic tools available to them.

The simple fact of the matter is that the encrypted data and the key to decrypt it both live in a piece of physical hardware on the device-- no matter how well obfuscated it is, it can still be analyzed and recovered by a sufficiently advanced technical entity.

This is exactly the type of work that NSA TAO exists to accomplish, and they are widely regarded as one of the best organizations of this kind in the world.

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

#154

Post by epistasis »

Oletros wrote: post #148
epistasis wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I don't think that Google really advertises itself under the OSS banner (and certainly not Libre/Free). And when compared to Apple, as the other poster did, I don't really see that Google is doing much more open source other than Android. They definitely did advertise themselves with the motto "Do No Evil," which they dropped some time ago, but open source hasn't really been a part of Google's DNA. Google's exte…

> They definitely did advertise themselves with the motto "Do No Evil," which they dropped some time ago, Google has not dropped that motto

Oops, thanks for the correction! This was a bad memory. I can find no support to back up my claim, and though Alphabet has a different phrasing of it, that did not happen in the time frame I falsely recalled.

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

#155

Post by magicalist »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #44
digi_owl wrote: post #36

Wonder what the NYT's headline would be if it was Google that has gone out strongly.

Google doesn't care. They're the "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, and you better not fear advertisers, because we just told them all about you" crowd. Few years back Cornell University adopted Gmail for their staff and faculty under the condition that the company wouldn't data-mine the emails. Google did anyway. Now we use Outlook.

> Few years back Cornell University adopted Gmail for their staff and faculty under the condition that the company wouldn't data-mine the emails. Google did anyway. Now we use Outlook.

is this site[1] old then? Sounds like they have a very explicit privacy agreement[2], which isn't surprising...Cornell isn't a small school.

(according to the wayback machine, the privacy section in [2] has been in place unchanged since February 2012)

[1] http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/cmail/index.cfm

[2] http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/cmail/faq.cfm#privacy

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

#156

Post by amyjess »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #47
amyjess wrote: post #28

John McAfee has posted his response: http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mcafee-ill-decrypt-san-b... As usual for him, it's hyperbolic and over the top. It starts with this... > This is a black day and the beginning of the end of the US as a world power. And snowballs into this: > And why do the best hackers on the planet not work for the FBI? Because the FBI will not hire anyone with a 24-inch purple mohawk, 10-gaug…

Not too far off. Obviously nobody would smoke at work for the same reason they probably wouldn't drink, illegality aside. But, what people do outside of work is their own business. If my boss started seriously inquiring about my vices, first thing I'd do that night is update my resume. I've considered federal work before but every time I think hard about it, I keep coming back to the scene in Snow Crash where the fed…

> I've considered federal work before but every time I think hard about it, I keep coming back to the scene in Snow Crash where the fed works at a place where every little action - the time you arrive, the time you leave, whether you take the stairs or use electricity by taking the elevator - is scrutinized and judged. Yuck.

I work for a defense contractor, and while we do have some annoying DCAA-mandated timekeeping policies, it's really not half as bad as the Snow Crash FBI. We just have to write down time in, time out, and the amount of time worked on each contract each day (in tenths of an hour). The first two are only because the DCAA mandated it, and the third is for accounting purposes (IIRC, the company gets paid based on how many hours are billed to each contract).

It's because of this, by the way, that overtime is virtually nonexistent here; we can't bill the government more hours than have already been agreed to, and it would be illegal to lie. Thus, if we end up staying late or working on a weekend to meet a deadline, we take time off later in the month so our billed hours for the month match up with how many the company is allowed to bill.

Oh, and I'm an openly transgender person with a pink stripe in my hair, and I've never had any trouble with either. There's also no dress code, everyone knows that I'm a heavy drinker outside of work (and doesn't care as long as I don't drink at work or come to work drunk), and the environment is relaxed enough that we can talk about any subject during breaks.

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

#157

Post by squeaky-clean »

mintplant wrote: post #135
grillvogel wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

using their magical AES breaking powers?

From Apple's letter [1]: > Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession. > The FBI may use different words to describe th…

For Apple it's not impossible. The government can't push updates to a phone without the necessary keys.

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

#158

Post by Oletros »

epistasis wrote: post #154
Oletros wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They definitely did advertise themselves with the motto "Do No Evil," which they dropped some time ago, Google has not dropped that motto

Oops, thanks for the correction! This was a bad memory. I can find no support to back up my claim, and though Alphabet has a different phrasing of it, that did not happen in the time frame I falsely recalled.

Well, Alphabet doesn't have that motto, perhaps is what you read.

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

#159

Post by Oletros »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #143
Oletros wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google doesn't care. They're the "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, and you better not fear advertisers, because we just told them all about you" crowd. Still with that out of context quote?

Did you even read my second paragraph? I have personal experience of their ignoring contractual privacy requirements for private gain.

Then I suppose that you will provide proof of that.

And then you could explain why Cornell uses Google Apps for the students.

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

#160

Post by Oletros »

eridius wrote: post #152
Oletros wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's been stated in numerous articles over the years Then it will be easy to find any source that it is not the same old "Google makes 4 times more from iOS than from Android" that was debunked years ago for using assumptions about a royalty figure in the Oracle vs. Google trial and nothing real

Here's an article from last year claiming that Google made 75% of its mobile search revenue from iOS: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/27/apples-ios-drives-...

As I said, when you can find that "report" we can start to discuss about the figures. Until then, it has the same validity as using a random function in a computer to guess those numbers
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