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FBI Looking Into 'Legal and Technical Options' for Entering Another Terrorist's iPhone

Friday October 7, 2016 7:45 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
fbi-logoA new case might lead the FBI and Apple into another fight over security and privacy on smartphones, following a confirmation yesterday by FBI special agent Rich Thorton that the FBI has the iPhone of Dahir Adan in its possession (via Wired).

Adan was the culprit behind the stabbing of 10 people in a Minnesota mall in mid-September, and was eventually shot and killed by police. After the event, terrorist organization ISIS claimed credit for the attack on social media, but "no evidence has emerged to suggest ISIS had a hand in planning or executing the attack."

During a press conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota yesterday, Thorton confirmed that the FBI has Adan's iPhone and that it is locked with a passcode. According to the special agent, the organization is "still trying to figure out how to gain access to the phone's contents." The issue currently is that the model and version of iOS running on the iPhone is known only to the FBI. Following the launch of iOS 8 in 2014, any iOS device running the software is encrypted to an extent that no malicious outsider -- or even Apple itself -- can get into the iPhone or iPad.
“Dahir Adan’s iPhone is locked,” Thornton told reporters, “We are in the process of assessing our legal and technical options to gain access to this device and the data it may contain.”
Because of this, the deciding factor on whether or not the new issue could lead to another San Bernardino-related debate between Apple and the FBI hinges on the software and model of his iPhone (iOS 8 can run on iPhone 4s and newer devices). For now, Thorton said that the FBI is simply "assessing" its "legal and technical options" for ways to enter the iPhone and extract any potentially helpful data it might contain.

The San Bernardino case began much the same way, with the FBI ordering Apple to provide assistance in opening up Syed Farook's iPhone 5c because the company had the "technical means" to do so. A long battle between the two organizations eventually led to the Justice Department dropping the case against Apple, reportedly due to an anonymous source providing the iPhone's password to authorities.

During the controversy, everyone from former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to President Obama chimed in on the issue. Throughout multiple interviews and quotes, Apple CEO Tim Cook remained adamant on the company's continuing stance for user privacy, calling the FBI's request for entering an iPhone "the software equivalent of cancer." Its implementation could lead to a slippery slope in terms of invasive technology in everyday smartphones, as pointed out by Apple executive Eddy Cue, and even a potential surveillance state.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Apple-FBI
[ 175 comments ]

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Pbrutto
40 months ago
If only it had the note's self destruct feature.....
Rating: 51 Votes
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yaxomoxay
40 months ago
yet during an investigation they are able to lose two boxes full of emails written by HRC.
Rating: 40 Votes
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djphat2000
40 months ago
I could have sworn they said "only this time and for this iPhone".
Rating: 37 Votes
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0815
40 months ago
Stay strong Tim.
Rating: 34 Votes
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taptic
40 months ago
If the NSA wants access to only terrorists' phones, I guess that makes us all terrorists.
Rating: 21 Votes
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vertsix
40 months ago
Of course they are.

Because finding or investigating a few terrorists is more important than the security of hundreds of millions of iOS users.

Priorities.
Rating: 18 Votes
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shareef777
40 months ago
And yet we have 10x more murders in Chicago on a weekly basis and the FBI or any law enforcement for that matter doesn't give a ****.
Rating: 16 Votes
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JohnGrey
40 months ago

How do you know that? Usually it's all quietly done in the background. I'm sure a lot of service providers were a little surprised at how public everything got last time.

Apple needs to develop a tool to do this, that law enforcement / government agencies can bring their suspect devices to a secure facility in Apple HQ to unlock the content of these phones.

They need to build it in such a way that it will only work in this fashion and cannot be removed from their possession.

Yes, I know a bunch of people will jump up and talk about civil liberties, etc....Apple can either build the means to comply on a case by case basis and not sacrifice the security for all, or eventually be forced to comply with the wishes of the US government.

Remember the PATRIOT act folks? It's still there. There's lots of precedence of other service providers complying. Apple's just putting on a show as a PR stunt - to make their offering seem the pinnacle of security.


Read the bold again and get it through your skull: it can't and won't stay private. The evidentiary laws regarding forensic tools and solutions in the United States require that it be peer reviewed, else a defendant could easily make a case that the tool itself manufactured fradulent inculpatory evidence. And once the workaround is known externally, it will get reproduced.

There's no middle ground on this. Either entities like Apple, which actually have power since it is clear that we simple peons are totally disenfranchised and disregarded, stand up to these jackbooted, McCarthyist fascists or they don't. If they do, we have a fighting chance at keep the civil liberties of which you speak so cynically. If not, well...the result is far more nightmarish that anything we have dealt with from any knife-wielding extremist.
Rating: 16 Votes
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Robert.Walter
40 months ago
Potential surveillance state?

We passed from the potential phase about a generation ago.
Rating: 15 Votes
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Kaibelf
40 months ago


US Spokesperson Lois Griffin:

But…..what about…the terrorists?...That's right, terrorists.....We have intelligence that suggests that... Hitler is plotting with... with the Legion of Doom... to assassinate Jesus... using the lake as a base. And we also have evidence that... Darth Vader tried to buy yellowcake uranium... from unwed teenage mothers!!!
Rating: 13 Votes

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