Today I want to talk about a subject that has been all over the news lately. I am sure most everyone has heard the story so I will not go into details on it. If you haven't heard the story yet you can find links below.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/25/whats-really-at-stake-in-apple-vs-fbi-fight.html
http://bgr.com/2016/02/25/apple-vs-fbi-legal-filing/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/opinions/apple-fbi-washington-silicon-valley-divide-opinion-rogers-grumet/
It seems everyone has an opinion on the subject. Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Hillary Clinton, etc... are weighing in on the subject. From what I have heard the general consensus is that Apple should write some code that does not exist currently in order to give the FBI(and soon all branches of the Federal government) access to the IOS system to retrieve data that is stored locally on an Apple I-Phone.
The FBI says that this will only be used only for this particular phone and will not be used for any other purpose(things that make you go hmmm....). It sounds like it is the right thing to do, right? It definitely sounds like a valid request.
What happened was a tragedy and no one would like justice to be served to all of those that perpetrated this act of terror more than me. No one can deny that it is important for the investigation to determine who these perpetrators were associated with i.e. communicating with. The keyword here is "communicating".
I am not a detective nor do I claim to be an expert in investigations. One thing I do know is that when suspects are named in any case, a warrant can be issued by a judge if there is sufficient evidence produced. This warrant will give Law Enforcement access to any property owned or controlled by the suspect as long as it is specified within the warrant. That process is the only way the government(state or federal) can legally search your property.
The fourth amendment of the constitution states clearly;
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
This amendment has protected our privacy since it was first included in the constitution and it has been sufficient for law enforcement in the past to gain access to property with the due process of a search warrant. I won't begin to count the number of perpetrators who have been brought to justice using a search warrant and I don't think anyone can.
There is no doubt in my mind that in this case the FBI went directly to a judge for a search warrant soon after this heinous crime occurred and with good reason. I am sure it didn't take much time for the judge to issue a warrant for the perpetrators home, car, office, phone records, etc...
No one can argue that these things need to be searched in order to obtain clues for the investigation. Perhaps the suspects were in communication with terrorist organizations such as ISIS, HAMAS, Al Qaeda, Al-ge-bra :), etc...
I can't tell you what the telephone carrier was that controlled this particular cell phone but I can tell you that "ALL" communication through any public network is stored indefinitely. At the very least it is stored on a temporary basis. This was one of the things that Edward Snowden leaked to the public. Like it or not, all communications over a public network are logged and stored on a server. The NSA has access to these records and the FBI can gain access to those records.
The FBI doesn't even need a search warrant because they have the information already stored on a server. They don't need to search a particular telephone to find out who a suspect was communicating with. All they need to do is analyze the phone records and I can assure you that this has already been done. The FBI already knows who the suspect was communicating with and when.
I have to admit that own an I-Phone and I love the phone. Apple created a good product and I will probably never buy another type of phone again. But the brand of phone is really not important. I owned another phone before I bought the I-phone. It was an android system and to be honest, I loved that phone as well. I can't tell you specifically why I prefer the I-phone over an Android phone but that is irrelevant.
Now I want to tell you about the data that can be stored on "ANY" modern smart phone. The new generation of smart phones can store photos, music, documents, browser history, emails, etc... Are these things important during an investigation? Of course they are.
Let's analyze each one of things and try to determine the significance of that information as it would pertain to an investigation. The first thing is photos. As a smart phone user I tend to take a lot of photos with my I-phone even though I have multiple DSLR Cameras. It is a matter of convenience. I love the camera feature of the phone and I have even produced videos on my YouTube channel using my telephone.
Does the FBI need access to a photo on this particular phone? What good will it do in an investigation? Did the perpetrator take photos of the location of this terrorist attack? Probably, but why does the FBI need that photo. They already know that location. Do they need access to selfies, landscapes, up-skirts, etc... I don't think any of those type of photos are relevant to this investigation. They certainly don't warrant forcing apple to create a backdoor into all Apple devices. Yes I said all Apple devices. Aside from some minor differences, the same IOS runs on the I-Pad and other Apple products.
Perhaps a photo was taken with the suspect standing next to Bin-Laden himself. While I agree that type of photo would be significant in an investigation, I don't think the mere photo would be sufficient evidence that would result in a valid search warrant.
Even if Bin-Laden and the suspect were secretly kissing in a photo, while it would make for a great tabloid cover, it would probably not be sufficient evidence for a warrant. Not to mention, if there is a relationship it would have been revealed through phone records. I think we can rule out any need to create a backdoor into all Apple devices for those types of photos.
What about the up-skirt photos I mentioned? Sorry, I honestly don't think they would be enough to justify creating a master key into all Apple devices . Government employees might be bored and want to see up someone's skirt but it is not relevant and certainly does not warrant this type of access into millions of devices worldwide.
Let's talk about documents. What kind of documents does the FBI think are stored on this particular telephone that would warrant such an invasion of privacy for millions of I-phone and IPad users? To answer this question, I want to explain how to put a document on an I-phone. The first way is to create a document. I can do it on my phone. I can write in a note, "I plan to do.... on Fryday, September 38, 2939".
To be honest with you, it is cumbersome to create documents on a smart phone. I can't speak for everyone but I create my documents on my computer. This blog was written from a computer. I could write it from my phone and even publish it here but it is inefficient at best and auto-correct causes more problems than it fixes.
I believe the chances that this particular suspect wrote specific information that is pertinent to this investigation directly on the phone are very slim. It is definitely not enough to warrant hacking into every apple device to see an auto-correct failure.
I think we can rule out that there is a document on the telephone that was created on the phone itself. At least one that is relevant to the investigation. Any other documents, i.e. documents transferred to the phone via email etc... can be retrieved from the telephone network/NSA. Again, I think this does not justify an unconstitutional invasion of privacy for all Apple product users.
Do I really need to talk about videos and music. I think I have said enough about the subject. All I can say is that I am glad Apple has had the courage to stand up for the rights of it's users and I am sorry to hear Bill Gates has sided with "Big Brother" on this. I actually thought he was intelligent.
In closing I will quote Benjamin Franklin
He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security,
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