O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: shooting

  • Unlocked San Bernadino iPhone providing some leads in investigation

    lockediphone5c

    In spite of all the controversy and kerfuffle surrounding the San Bernadino iPhone and the steps taken to unlock it, sources are indicating that the FBI is getting some useful information and leads from the device.

    Investigators are now more confident that terrorist Syed Farook didn’t make contact with another plotter during an 18-minute gap that the FBI said was missing from their time line of the attackers’ whereabouts after the mass shooting, the officials said. The phone has helped investigators address lingering concern that the two may have help, perhaps from friends and family.

    (more…)

  • Some Apple employees might refuse to help FBI unlock iPhone 5c if ordered to do so

    lockediphone5c

    As the iPhone unlocking controversy roars on, a number of Apple engineers have said they may decide not to cooperate with law enforcement.

    Apple employees who might be called on to help the FBI are already considering their actions should Apple lose the case. This is according to interviews conducted by the New York Times with half a dozen people involved in the development of mobile products and security at Apple.

    Per the interviews, some said they they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their premium jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees.

    (more…)

  • Proposed California State Assembly Bill could work against smartphone encryption

    iphoneunlock

    For California smartphone users, this hits pretty close to home.

    Assembly Bill 1681, a California State Assembly bill, would ban default encryption on all smartphones. The bill, introduced in January by Assemblymember Jim Cooper, would require any smartphone sold in California “to be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider.” This could be even more drastic than what’s going on with Apple’s legal showdown in the San Bernadino iPhone unlocking case.

    Both Apple and Google currently encrypt smartphones running their iOS and Android operating systems by default. A.B. 1681 would undo this default, penalizing manufacturers and providers of operating systems $2,500 per device that cannot be decrypted at the time of sale.

    (more…)

  • Justice Department cites Apple as “having raised technological barriers” in San Bernadino iPhone unlocking case

    justicedepartmentlogo

    This is probably the next step in the escalating war between Apple and the Justice Department.

    The Justice Department on Thursday issued a statement claiming Apple’s rhetoric of privacy protection in the San Bernadino iPhone 5c unlocking case to be “false”.

    Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a court order requiring Apple to write new software and take other measures to disable passcode protection and allow access to shooter Rizwan Farook’s iPhone.

    Apple has yet to comply, stating that the government’s request would create a back door to devices that could not be removed from existence and could be used by criminals and governments. Apple added that Congress has not given the Justice Department the legal authority to make such a demand.

    Apple has also attacked the FBI investigation as “shoddy” and portrayed itself as “the primary guardian of Americans’ privacy,” federal prosecutors said in a court filing on Thursday.

    (more…)