Apple Helps FBI Track Down Floyd Protester Accused of Firebombing Cop Cars | Hacker News Reader

Apple Helps FBI Track Down Floyd Protester Accused of Firebombing Cop Cars

forbes.com

35 pointsBostonian19 comments

> The case shows how Apple is willing to help even where the context of the crime is controversial, namely the Black Lives Matter protests.

Yeah we should give this guy a free pass because these protests are very legitimate.

Really what’s happened to journalism these days? Is everything an opinion piece?

I agree, if I firebomb my neighbor’s house it doesn’t matter if I did it in the name of racism, climate change, etc. It’s still a firebomb.

It's pretty unlikely that Joe Random FBI agent had lunch with Tim Cook, told him the entire backstory, and then said "will you send me his data?", to which Tim Cook said "sure thing."

It's far more likely that there was no context involved here at all. Someone at Apple Legal gets an email/fax/in-person visit with a properly-signed warrant or subpoena. They review it and say "yep, we have to comply" and then produce the data. There's no "asking" involved here.

Wonder what Apple's rationale is for acquiescing to requests for iCloud data while staunchly refusing to unlock physical devices.

Could it simply be the idea that data stored on iCloud is Apple's property and not yours, while a physical device is treated the other way around?

Refusing to unlock physical devices is good publicity, since it helps with Apple's image as a privacy company. Cooperating with law enforcement to hand over iCloud backups means they don't pay much of a price for that publicity.

I'm sure Apple justifies this around their iCloud user agreements and the fact that third-party stored data doesn't deserve as much protection, but: Android has deployed end-to-end encrypted backup based on a user-controlled PIN [1] and Apple has explicitly refused to do this despite having the tech in place [3], allegedly at the behest of the FBI [2]. Hard to look at this as anything but a deliberate business decision.

[1] https://security.googleblog.com/2018/10/google-and-android-h... [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusiv... [3] https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Krstic.p...

Apple has already paid a far higher price than Google ever has for protecting their customers security.

My (small) dog once had a fight with a squirrel. She paid a high price at the time, and so she learned not to do that anymore. I'm certainly ok with her decision, but I would suggest that -- unlike my dog -- Apple has end-users who really need them to keep fighting. They can't sit back and revel in past glories.

Not disagreeing, just offering a reason but not a justification for their reluctance to fully encrypt iCloud backups.

iCloud data is only secured by Apple controlled passwords. Your iDevice data is secured by your passcode which Apple does not possess, and it does not want to create backdoors on your iPhone to enable access.

In the San Bernardino terrorist incident, the cops screwed up the procedure to recover iCloud backups on the device, then blamed Apple for refusing to hack the device security.

If Apple wanted they could implement iCloud in such a way that they couldn't decrypt the data. For example Tresorit ( https://tresorit.com/ ) works like that.

It is kinda odd that for the iPhone they chose to implement it in such a way they can't access the data yet iCloud was designed in such a way they can.

I guess one could argue that the phone is really property of the customer and Apple's servers obviously not. Though I would argue in both cases the data is the property of the customer.

I think it’s fear of a government response, or possibly to give customers a last ditch way of recovering lost data. Either way it’s a hole they should address.

One requires you to upload a non encrypted version of your data. So whilst it might mostly appear as optics of good faith, it’s actually two extremely different requests and goals.

If you want your data private and to remain encrypted, you don’t enable icloud backups and Apple remain helpless to the government.

At least as far as we know and are willing to ‘trust’.

I read 538 daily. The violence that "protester" engaged in is directly contributing to Trump's re-election prospects, to the detriment of us all.

Violence is not the answer.

Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle - when people are convinced of the overwhelming importance of a higher cause, they find little problem with resorting to violence and evil. Watch The Baader Meinhof Complex if you want a historical example.

Exactly, "the overwhelming importance of a higher cause" is how terrorists are made.

Your conclusion doesn't make sense. There are many people who do good things because they are convinced of a higher cause. People go into medicine, or help at a charity, or go into law for a higher cause all the time.

The morally reprehensible stuff is justified by their perceived higher moral cause.

It's powerful, dangerous stuff that works as motivation for good and bad.

> is directly contributing to Trump's re-election prospects

Yes. As does the nomination of a 77 year old candidate with visible signs of dementia, and his choice of the least likeable primary candidate as his VP based solely on her gender and skin color.

> to the detriment of us all

Trump is the best thing that happened to the United States in the last 30 years. You just don't see it yet. His second term will fix that.

That "protester" is involved with a cause that preaches armed conflict and the destruction of the US of A. A bunch of jerks like him are being encouraged and protected by powerful politicians who hold the same ideas. Maybe it's past the time we wise up and start evaluating where the detriment of all of us really is.

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