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U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

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Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#131
“going to be the preferred method of the pedophile and the criminal. We are going to lose a lot of investigative opportunities.” - Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department

Oh, the delusional world Cathy lives in...

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#132
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quote from Cathy Lanier, the police chief whose ridiculous uniform resembles that of a four star general. fwiw my friend's dad was our chief of police for years, and he only ever wore a shirt and tie.

For what it's worth -- and here I have to wonder how much it's worth to criticize someone's point of view based on a photograph of them -- that's a dress uniform . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_uniform

Dress uniform for police? That's not quite as bad as the paramilitary BDUs, but, really?

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#133
post #114
post #103

I hypothesize that this is a coordinated yet simple ruse to rebuild trust in these brands post-Snowden [1][2]. There was similar press coverage regarding the DEA and iCloud encryption that was misreported in a similar way [3]. The Intercept (where Glenn Greenwald is now reporting from) has a story on what data Apple can still easily give away if you do believe they can't decrypt individual machines [4]. But maybe you…

Apple has staked their reputation on the line and said "send us an NSL if you like, we have nothing we can give you". And the cryptographic principles, if executed properly, are sound. Maybe they're lying. Maybe Snowden 2.0 will come out next year and tell us the truth and instantly destroy their credibility. That's a gamble I wouldn't take with my company, but it's plausible. See I figure, if you're a threat to Nati…

It's not really a gamble when you're forced to do something. You simply have no choice but to do what the government tells you to or lose your business.

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#134
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quote from Cathy Lanier, the police chief whose ridiculous uniform resembles that of a four star general. fwiw my friend's dad was our chief of police for years, and he only ever wore a shirt and tie.

For what it's worth -- and here I have to wonder how much it's worth to criticize someone's point of view based on a photograph of them -- that's a dress uniform . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_uniform

Sometimes a photo tells you all you need to know about a person: e.g., http://i.imgur.com/4CIFpFe.jpg . Modern American law enforcement: a gang of wannabe tinpot dictators with weapons they have no business with, and that they probably have no idea how to use.

Finger off the trigger, Sheriff.

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#135
post #129
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has staked their reputation on the line and said "send us an NSL if you like, we have nothing we can give you". And the cryptographic principles, if executed properly, are sound. Maybe they're lying. Maybe Snowden 2.0 will come out next year and tell us the truth and instantly destroy their credibility. That's a gamble I wouldn't take with my company, but it's plausible. See I figure, if you're a threat to Nati…

It's extremely difficult to implement cryptography correctly, and then cryptography != security != privacy. You should also look through the other linked articles. Some of them include features built into iOS devices that already circumvent encryption.

I intend to. But my initial position is that it's far more likely that Apple will fail to be perfect than that they are intentionally orchestrating a coverup.

That said, I think all this syncing and cloud stuff - in its early days, at least - is way overcomplicated and more error-prone both in its features and its security than it needs to be. I expect mistakes from all implementations for quite some time to come.

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#136

My expectation is anyone participating in illegal activities would already be using encryption. Encryption is readily available and and isn't very tedious as long as someone walks you through it. It is not like terrorists use Google docs and write their plans in plain text. What am I missing? The best I can infer from desperation of government is that they want to control people by collecting as much info as possible…

Your intuitions and reality are very different. In general terrorists and the like aren't savvy like your average HN-reader. They're savvy like that weird kid in school who had all the Anarchist Cookbooks and likes to build and set off pipe bombs for fun. They can teach you how to not blow off your hand, that's about it. I don't know how many times you've tried to 'walk someone through' using moderately complicated s…

It's not like LE hasn't had its own fair share of power abuse.

But regardless, I think you're missing that for LE to obtain those keys with a warrant, we must entrust them to two private multinationals without any court order. And by trusting those two companies, it's not only included trusting their board but also their protection from hackers and rogue employees. For example, Google already had an incident of an employee tapping a minor's account and getting personal information: http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/14/google-engineer-spying-fire...

(This is, of course, assuming the encryption actually works as announced. Personally, I don't trust it)

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#137
post #112
post #103

I hypothesize that this is a coordinated yet simple ruse to rebuild trust in these brands post-Snowden [1][2]. There was similar press coverage regarding the DEA and iCloud encryption that was misreported in a similar way [3]. The Intercept (where Glenn Greenwald is now reporting from) has a story on what data Apple can still easily give away if you do believe they can't decrypt individual machines [4]. But maybe you…

I believe that the decision to start encrypting data will just make it harder for local law enforcement to attain your data. When they subpoena Apple for your data they will get the encrypted data. The NSA will probably also receive your data encrypted however they probably won't have any problem unencrypting it.

When they subpoena Apple, they will get cloud data which will not be decrypted. The issue is whether they would be able to give Apple a device and say 'decrypt plz'.

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#139
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has staked their reputation on the line and said "send us an NSL if you like, we have nothing we can give you". And the cryptographic principles, if executed properly, are sound. Maybe they're lying. Maybe Snowden 2.0 will come out next year and tell us the truth and instantly destroy their credibility. That's a gamble I wouldn't take with my company, but it's plausible. See I figure, if you're a threat to Nati…

It's not really a gamble when you're forced to do something. You simply have no choice but to do what the government tells you to or lose your business.

Then they better have perfect security so there are no leaks proving that, or they're gonna lose their business anyway. I don't buy it, they'd fight that and they'd leak that they're fighting it.

Re: U.S. Law Enforcement Seeks to Halt Apple-Google Encryption of Mobile Data

#140
post #103

I hypothesize that this is a coordinated yet simple ruse to rebuild trust in these brands post-Snowden [1][2]. There was similar press coverage regarding the DEA and iCloud encryption that was misreported in a similar way [3]. The Intercept (where Glenn Greenwald is now reporting from) has a story on what data Apple can still easily give away if you do believe they can't decrypt individual machines [4]. But maybe you…

i think it's great to see ppl being skeptical of security claims from phone manufacturers. trying to secure a normal cellphone is pretty much impossible and if you're storing sensitive information on one, you are just waiting to get fucked.

i think all this "sound and fury" is likely a ruse to entice ios and android users into a false sense of safety post snowden disclosure. being able to encrypt your drive doesn't matter if your OS and its applications are exploitable. last time i checked, there is almost zero open source firmware out there, so your application processor can encrypt stuff hitting disk and the baseband processor can be used to get dma.

time to roll out the hypothetical child molester straw man...

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