Does anybody see through these PR plays? They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government, they're protecting their technology and using the moral issue to look good at a time when they're still majorly losing their way. To me this looks like governmental appeasement. Shutting down Snowden and other's methods of private communications is a fantastic gift to the government who doesn't want more of that type of scrutiny and people talking about the NSA badly, there's already enough thinking they're a major problem. What perfect a guise to get it done under another companies name that also happens to be having a great PR week on the back of data they gave up or are going to give up anyway, they always knew that. I wish more people would think for themselves or at least consider why the script might not be reality. They hired him! What happened is a formerly non corporate secure, private form of communication is now... who knows what. Maybe the government just figured out how to deal with the next Lavabit and not deal with more backlash. Nobody trusts them right now, everybody seems to love this Apple letter PR play.
Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
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Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#72Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#73>Apple Hires Developer Behind Signal, Edward Snowden’s Favorite Secure Chat App
A "secure" chat app that depends on Google Play Services (spyware) and is only available through the Play Store (rather than F-Droid, an open source software repository for Android) and maintained by an author who refuses to integrate fixes to either of these problems upstream.
For those wondering if Google Play Services really is spyware: one of the purposes is to backdoor your phone for Google so they can _silently_ update any of their apps on your phone. It has access to _every_ Android permission and can (and does) grant any permission to any app silently. It also monitors your location and reports it to Google, along with brief voice snippets for "OK Google", as well as a list of all apps installed on your phone, and more. It's definitely an awful thing to have on your phone if you're privacy conscious.
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#74Does anybody see through these PR plays? They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government, they're protecting their technology and using the moral issue to look good at a time when they're still majorly losing their way. To me this looks like governmental appeasement. Shutting down Snowden and other's methods of private communications is a fantastic gift to the government who doesn't want more of that type…
Yes. And I'll say it again. When Apple revised their privacy text (around 12 months ago), it looked to me that a warrant canary died.
Replaced with text like
"We care about your privacy." "We protect you with all legal means available."
And then there's PR like
http://www.dailytech.com/Feds+Cant+Crack+Apples+iMessage+Enc...
Maybe it's true. But are you really that trusting?
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#75Oh, they hired a developer behind Signal. No offense to Mr. Jacobs, I'm sure he is an excellent developer. But I saw the headline and assumed they had grabbed Moxie.
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#76>Apple Hires Developer Behind Signal, Edward Snowden’s Favorite Secure Chat App A "secure" chat app that depends on Google Play Services (spyware) and is only available through the Play Store (rather than F-Droid, an open source software repository for Android) and maintained by an author who refuses to integrate fixes to either of these problems upstream. For those wondering if Google Play Services really is spyware…
You're welcome to inform yourself on the subject before posting crude FUD: https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-iOS/blob/master/BUI...
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#77Does anybody see through these PR plays? They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government, they're protecting their technology and using the moral issue to look good at a time when they're still majorly losing their way. To me this looks like governmental appeasement. Shutting down Snowden and other's methods of private communications is a fantastic gift to the government who doesn't want more of that type…
Not sure if I believe that Apple acqui-hiring this developer was a concession for the bad press they've been giving the government lately. It was his choice to work for Apple; I'm going to guess that they didn't coerce him into taking this deal.
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#78This article seems more than a little silly. They blew up a single tweet into an article about Apple's corporate strategy in relation to the FBI. What next? Are they going to dig through Apple employees' trash, looking for variations in the number of credit card offers? "Apple Employees Load up on Credit" "Investigators have uncovered a 10% uptick in the number of accepted credit card offers from key Apple employees.…
> Microsoft reallocates its purchases of employee free soda to 20% Coke / 80% Pepsi. You joke, but I bet you could get a leading indicator if you looked at companies reallocating from European fizzy drinks to Coke/Pepsi.
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Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#79Does anybody see through these PR plays? They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government, they're protecting their technology and using the moral issue to look good at a time when they're still majorly losing their way. To me this looks like governmental appeasement. Shutting down Snowden and other's methods of private communications is a fantastic gift to the government who doesn't want more of that type…
How can you possibly be so cynical that you think this? Be an Apple hater all you want, but your comment is just silly. If Apple has "unlocked many phones for the government" before, why does the government have so many they want unlocked? A warrant canary can't "look to you" like it died. It did or it did not, and it most definitely did not. You're blowing this almost as far out of proportion as the article. Where is your proof for all these prior phones they unlocked??
Re: Apple hires one of the developers behind Signal
#80Does anybody see through these PR plays? They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government, they're protecting their technology and using the moral issue to look good at a time when they're still majorly losing their way. To me this looks like governmental appeasement. Shutting down Snowden and other's methods of private communications is a fantastic gift to the government who doesn't want more of that type…
>They've unlocked many phones in the past for the government
I do not really see why this is always brought up. Ofcourse they unlocked phones in the past, they had a master password, they could not legally refuse to do it. There was no legal way for them to resist such actions by the government
Do you understand the difference between the security model today, and previous versions of the iPhone?
Further I do believe there is a Fundamental Difference between Apple run by Steve Jobs, and Apple run by Tim Cook in how they view government. This is why your seeing Apple shift its technology to resist government agents as well as more "traditional" threats
//For the Record, I hate apples business model, and their Walled Garden Ecosystem. I will never own a iPhone because of that, however this on going theme of "well they unlocked it in the past" is just technological ignorance that need to be put down.