Apple vs the Feds
Comments
-
Hi
I've heard about the Apple vs FBI case in NY. After asking for Apple's help in the case, the FBI has withdrawn it again. The reason being that they managed to get the password from someone else?
theverge.com/2016/4/22/11492804/fbi-apple-new-york-iphone-unlocking-case-withdrawl
Or did the suspect talk?
"Today's filing was once again made suddenly, with a US attorney saying the government had learned the passcode from "an individual" late last night. (It's not immediately clear from the filing who that person is, although the Wall Street Journal reports that it was the suspect himself, Jun Feng, who pleaded guilty last year.)"
Even with the FBI spending over US$1 million on the San Bernardino suspect's iPhone, it was still a dead end, without any new leads.
0 -
Indeed, and following the abandonment of the earlier case, the FBI stated that the method they used to gain access only worked because it was an iPhone 5C. iPhone 5S and later aren't susceptible, since they have added hardware, which can't be bypassed via software methods. It's encouraging.
0 -
In the New York case, the phone is using iOS 7. The police have made it clear from the outset that they had other mechanisms to get into that device, but asking Apple was the easiest. Note also, that the "suspect" in that case has already pleaded guilty and is in jail. But he continues to refuse to provide access to his Contacts.
In my personal opinion, the government had expected these sorts of cases to go better for them in court. They are hand picking cases that they believe will help establish a set of precedents and practices that will help them. When it appears that the cases may go against them, and potentially establish rulings that the would not like they withdraw from the case so that the rulings do not happen.
That, of course, is speculation on my point. But because the government are often in a position to withdraw from cases that might not go their way they can avoid "losing" such cases. And it is very often preferable for them to withdraw instead of lose.
0 -
The FBI, after spending $1 million, can't tell how the hack was accomplished. It's that secretive.
0 -
Indeed. :)
Ben
0 -
Just read an article there the feds successfully got a court order to force a woman to open her iPhone via touch ID.
0 -
The US case law on whether people can be compelled to decrypt stuff is exceedingly unsettled. There may be a tiny grain of truth1 to the assertion that the 5th amendment protects people from having to disclose passwords, but I think that this is all untested. Or where such cases have been tested, there are other things going on.
As it becomes more difficult for law enforcement to get data they seek without the "cooperation" of the suspect, we will probably start seeing more of these cases. But I hardly expect these aspects of the law to be settled in the next ten years. It will take time.
I should make it clear that I have no legal training, and my research on this has not been systematic.
-
This "you can't be compelled to give a password" line of thought is something I hear, but upon researching and reading the relevant cases, I think that it is far from clear. Nor do I believe that existing law and precedent provide a meaningful distinction between encryption key versus authentication key. ↩︎
0 -
