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Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

reuters.com

201–210 of 228 posts

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you lose all your iDevices _and_ your password at the same time ... I don't know how this is with iPhones (I don't own one), but with Android these events are almost 100% correlated for many people. That's because you never get prompted for your Google account password on your phone. If you don't use the same Google account on your phone as on your desktop, or don't really use your Google account on the desktop…

> “That's because you never get prompted for your Google account password on your phone. […] then you might never need to know your password.” This is so true. 1Password silently changed their UX on iPhone app 4 years (?) ago and the primary password was not required between app-quit. I had tweaked my password after using it every minute one weekend installing a new system. When I finally needed the master password,…

iOS purchases require an Apple account. iCloud uses Apple accounts too. But purchases don't require iCloud.

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#202
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds a lot more like financial institution regulation than tech company regulation.

Yes but the point is the government has the ability to do that. Exactly my question

You said "tech companies has to save the data and share with the gov".

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're deliberately ignoring the use case, which makes your argument look silly. Scenario 1: Apple announces Orwellian system to thwart child abuse in the United States. Scenario 2: Apple announces Orwellian system to thwart Chinese dissidence. Which one sounds more palatable to you? To the world? Apple *has* to take an orthogonal approach to giving China the surveillance capacity it desires. It can't openly enable a…

>Which one sounds more palatable to you? To the world? Your claim is that somehow scenario one makes scenario two suddenly palatable. Like people will say "oh, they ran an allegedly limited surveillance program for the US, so who cares if they run an unlimited one for China?" >Apple wouldn't unlock a single iPhone for the FBI in a terrorism investigation.. Apple willingly offered to help unlock that iPhone. They're m…

Grammatical and spelling errors aside, I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#204
post #10

Some have speculated that with the introduction of the PSI/CSAM system Apple will enable E2EE backups. Given the lack of an explicit statement on Apple's part and their history regarding E2EE backups (this article, and other statements). It seems really unlikely to me that Apple will enable E2EE backups. Under E2EE, assuming the device key is randomly generated, if you have one device (as many users do) and you lose…

So I can encrypt my files but does that mean it'll still be proactively scanned for MFing child pornography without any prior evidence? I don't want that on my phone because I'm not a criminal.

Yep when apple releases this monstrosity there is literally no way around it unless you encrypt your files before they ever hit your iphone or mac computer. Then they'll just be scanning encrypted data which is theoretically protected. Technically they will (at their discretion) only scan stuff headed for icloud. Theoretically it is still very possible for them to scan things on your phone and report you no matter whether you use icloud or not. 100% if you are using icloud everything will be scanned that's considered a "photo" before uploading it. Eventually (I predict with 99% probablity) this will be slowly extended to scanning everything on your iphone and imac equipments for other "criminal activities" such as financial transactions, all documents, etc for whatever the government at the time considers "criminal"

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#205
post #10

Some have speculated that with the introduction of the PSI/CSAM system Apple will enable E2EE backups. Given the lack of an explicit statement on Apple's part and their history regarding E2EE backups (this article, and other statements). It seems really unlikely to me that Apple will enable E2EE backups. Under E2EE, assuming the device key is randomly generated, if you have one device (as many users do) and you lose…

>Some have speculated that with the introduction of the PSI/CSAM system Apple will enable E2EE backups. For me it seems that latest changes do not change anything, FBI will still object with the same reasons as in the past, because they will have a legal obtained warrant and they need the user backups/phone content. I do not see Apple fighting this in courts especially now when they also have a big fight vs Epic and…

This is like giving into terrorists. FBI/NSA/local cops won't be happy until they have software regularly scanning everything on your computer for "criminal" activity and uploading it for them to review and add to your "social score" much like China is already implementing. I wouldn't be shocked if this wasn't built in anticipation of China cranking down the thumb screws and Apple wants to be able easily comply with spying on citizens in those nations whose government desires to do that.

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#206
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, so I do not see Apple implementing true end to end encryption and telling to the FBI/NSA to fuck off. The fact that Apple can catch some CP now won't convince the government or some judges that is fine to stop the collaboration. In fact I can see it more likely that in secret or with a judge approval new hashes would be added into the secret database(maybe someone leaked some stuff to the press and some gov want…

Just fyi the new acronym CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is much more fitting.. CP just makes it seem like dudes getting off on pictures and not evidence of a crime having taken place which is how I had it explained to me.

So CP is cancelled now? We all know what it means, good grief.

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Which one sounds more palatable to you? To the world? Your claim is that somehow scenario one makes scenario two suddenly palatable. Like people will say "oh, they ran an allegedly limited surveillance program for the US, so who cares if they run an unlimited one for China?" >Apple wouldn't unlock a single iPhone for the FBI in a terrorism investigation.. Apple willingly offered to help unlock that iPhone. They're m…

Grammatical and spelling errors aside, I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.

1. Your claim that A allows B is nonsense.

2. Apple has always been less pro-privacy than you claim.

3. Everything mentioned here involves the US wanting more access. You claim that is proof of Chinese influence, rather than the obvious US influence.

I'm not seeing a multitude of spelling or grammar mistakes either, though I will admit that one sentence was poorly constructed. And I see a wrong "they're" I blaim on auto complete, though still my fault.

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#208

The answer is simple. Disable iCloud/iMessage, backup/restore your files the old fashioned way, and use Telegram or something for messaging. Don’t even opt into any of the ways they can spy on you. iCloud and iMessage suck anyways, you aren’t really losing anything of value

Telegram is no more encrypted than iCloud.

[deleted]

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#209
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The hard part would be getting the US security apparatus to allow it. This is why ALL the major storage providers DON'T support end-to-end encryption. I don't think so. The reason is there's no money to be earned with being simply a storage provider. Additional processing, indexing, workflow tools etc. is what people pay for. That's not possible with E2E encryption.

What do you call Tarsnap, rsync.net, S3, and Backblaze?

> the major storage providers **major**

Re: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any icloud alternative backup, that doesn't involve connecting to a computer? It seems that it's possible for third party apps to backup certain data, like photos and contacts, but to do a full device backup you either need to use icloud, or connect via USB to a computer.

yes, you can use usbmuxd with macOS, but it means you have to purchase a Mac, and who wants to run macOS as a server OS.

I'm confused, twofold, first of all being that usbmuxd means you need to connect to a computer, second of all being that it seems usbmuxd works on various platforms, not just macOS?
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