Apple vs the FBI

[LurkerJ]

mornelithe said:

LurkerJ said:

Apple has positioned itself as a market leader when it comes to securing the storage and transmission of data, previously that title belong to RIM. A position Google, and others, are actively seeking to share with Apple. Whether that positioning strategy is the result of competition or a sincere moral stance on the issue of privacy is not as important as whether big government can force tech giants to compromise their free market position and ensure all future encryption is readable by the FBI. Soon enough, others will fight the same fight.

Needing a warrent might make it seem OK for the FBI to make such demands but let's not forget that Apple is an international company, what happens when less progressive countries start taking down activists by publishing their dick pix. 

Big Government most certainly CAN force companies to compromise their position.  I'm not sure why you'd think otherwise.  Congress could absolutely pass a law demanding all tech companies provide this to the Government, that's why the tech community is so concerned.  And to be honest, I'm rather mixed on it.  I do absolutely think privacy is important, but I also think it's important that the police/fbi etc.. are able to fully investigate crimes, including gaining full unfettered access to their electronics devices.  As I said previously, when Apple changed their OS in 2014, to make it infinitely more difficult to hack, they chose this path.  And it's up to them to fight it tooth and nail in every instance.  They better tread carefully though, the rammifications of this are much bigger than Apple's profit margins.

Yes, they can. I am not thinking otherwise. Just moving the conversation along. Will it happen? When will it happen? For how long can Apple stall them? All questions soon to be answered, I guess.  The next time Paris is under attack, the media will tell the public "This could've been prevented if we had access to the encrypted data" and the distressed people will jump on the bandwagon and whatever little support Apple, and others, have will be gone.

Terrorists don't even have to find alternative means of communications to carry out their plans. Concealing hidden messages in plain unecrypted readable English text can do the job just fine. And when even presented with all the data they want, why do you trust them make sound decisions? Hint: Iraq.

On the other hand, Google, Facebook, Windows 10 are legally obtaining more personal data than anyone else, and worse, it's their business model, but few people care. People are quick to scream "PRIVACY" on facebook while using Chrome. So is it really a big deal? Will Apple join the crowd and reverse their policies and make more money off their iPhones than they are making now?

Maybe the public actually trust those companies a lot more than the government, and that's justified, or maybe they just don't know what they are talking about.

Let's watch how this unravels.