Apple to continue to aid law enforcement while protecting privacy and security.
Apple has issued a statement concerning the Department of Justice withdrawing its demand under the All Writs Act that the company aid in creating a version of iOS that would be faster and easier for the government to hack into.
From the beginning, we objected to the FBI's demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government's dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought.
We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated.
Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.
This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy. Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion.
Some dramatic cinema retelling of these events one day might well show an FBI that wanted a precedent granting law enforcement sweeping powers of intrusion. When public sentiment and legal interpretation swung against them, however, the Department of Justice chose to bail rather than risk opposing precedent. But no one is making that movie. Yet.
What's clear is that while this case is over, the issue has not been solved. It's been put on hold. And that just means everyone needs to stay aware, lest the right to privacy be similarly encroached again.
Reader comments
Apple: This case should never have been brought
#StandWithApple - Will be interesting to see the new security features and options that arise from this. Glad Apple stood strong.
This article completely fails to mention that the FBI withdrew their case because they announced today that they'd broken into the phone in question.
Yup, Koolaid blogging as always by Rene trying to make it look like Justice department backed down. No, FBI realized cracking the iphone was easier than they thought and they did it themselves without a need for a backdoor so there was no need to proceed with the court case.
The publicity stunt that Apple was trying to pull off backfired,as it revealed that an iphone can be broken into.
Apple never once claimed iOS 9 was unshakable. Exactly the opposite if you read their court fillings. Apple indicates the hacks grow increasingly sophisticated and they have to continue to tighten security with each new release. The FBI made this entire theater by their choice and they came out as committed NOT to the truth.
Once the FBI saw the public actually learning about the issues and they witnessed an entire trillion dollar tech industry tell the law heads at the FBI/DOJ they don't understand math or technology, they had no choice but to find (or use the method they already had) a differnt way in.
You seem to have it backwards......DOJ didn't drop the suit because they were under pressure, they dropped it because these "law heads" that apparently "dont understand technology" broke into the iphone without a need for a backdoor so there was no need to proceed with the suit.
You are either clueless or a troll...
Great response. Didn't expect anything more intellectual from an ifanboy
Sorry, your the only one acting like a fanboy...I don't for a second believe the FBI was suddenly presented with a way in that they weren't aware of previously...you appear to have an obvious bias of Apple which isn't really helping the point your trying to make...
"they dropped it because these 'law heads' that apparently 'dont understand technology' broke into the iphone"
You misspelled "they paid someone who understands technology to do what they claimed under oath, likely committing perjury, was impossible."
They never claimed it was impossible.
we've got troll-sign, boys! ban this schmuck.
The FBI didn't gain access to this phone and they never will. If they wanted to put for a plausible explanation they could have stated that someone in the office tried an incorrect passcode 10 times and the phone wiped itself. That would get them off the hook with a tiny bit of egg on their face today, but at least they would be unlikely to be proven liars tomorrow.
"We've broken into the phone" Source: FBI
"The FBI didn't gain access to this phone and they never will." Source: a random fanboy on a fanboy blog.
Hmmm a real tough call on who has more merit!
And you hang out here just to point out who the fanboys are?
The FBI can proceed if they're confident since if they didn't tell, nobody would know. They can easily say the hiring is for something else. It was established soon after the case brought up that DoJ want precedence. They wouldn't run away this easily if public support continues to be strong.
Why would they tie themselves up in the court for months and months, pay thousands of dollars in legal fees to aim to accomplish something they already have, which is gain access to the iphone?
Durrrr.. To set a president.. They said so under oath. Congress asked them exactly this question, and they said "yes, of course they would use this president in other cases to force Apple to crack open other phones"
Thats WHY they would spend thousands (you think small, likely millions of TAX DOLLARS) to gain access.
The word you are looking for is "precedent". Big difference between "precedent" and "president".
Lol!
man, do we really have to explain it to the bootlickers? it was never about "one phone". it was about getting the legal precedent and ability to bust into any phone at will. but you knew that.
Durr... It's not about this one phone. Stupid!
That article has already been written that the fbi found an outside source with a method that worked.
This article was about a statement apple made after.
Do the have to mention the first article in every paragraph of each article for you or something?
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Nobody cares about Apple's statements...it's about Rene's rants that makes it look like DOJ bowed to Apple and dropped the suit because of pressure when in fact they did it because they already broke into the phone.
"however, the Department of Justice chose to bail rather than risk opposing precedent." <=incorrect. They dropped the suit because the accomplished what they wanted to do which is gaining access to the phone.
What rant? lol man, you drinking your own special koolaid arn't yeah? You've your own special kind of wacked, with a pinch of obsessed?
you have no idea if they actually broke into the phone. they could have done it months ago.
regardless, the DOJ bowed out, make no mistake -- they knew they'd LOSE their case in court, which meant losing the legal precedent they were after. so they'll bide their time for another scenario to make the same emotional appeal. and bootlickers like you will lap it up.
No one here knows the real motivations or agenda behind either party to the court case. Your insist on taking the FBI's word at face value, but if you were being fair and objective then you would also take the opposing party's word at face value. It is quite possible the FBI knew how to break into the phone from the beginning of the case and were just playing dumb in their briefs. The FBI 'said' the reason they are dropping the case is because they were able to hack into the phone ... but just because they said that doesn't mean it is true. At some point in the future the government will want into a phone that hasn't been broken into yet, and then this nonsense will start over again. Whether it is Apple, the FBI, or Rene himself, it is possible for any of them to be deceitful, saying one thing and doing another. It isn't for you alone to say you know better than anyone else what is going on. All you can offer is an equal perspective. No matter how many times you post online, your view is not more important than anyone else's.
Man, can you please just **** off? Yes, this is an Apple blog, so it's going to be biased toward Apple. Give it a rest.
you really don't read the site do you because if you did you would have noticed
PHEW!
FBI drops legal action against Apple in iPhone unlock case
BY DAN THORP-LANCASTER Monday, Mar 28, 2016 at 6:07 pm EDT
So I say you failed
I was about to say the same!!
Posted via the iMore App
Yeap Ted you're right, but regardless of the reason why FBI withdrew the case, the privacy issue still needs to be debated right now and not a the next FBI request (or any other body of law for that matter). It needs to be addressed rationnaly without plunging the nation once more in a pool of emotions!
Exactly this. All the news outlets are putting this entire thing to bed now, as if it's all over. If anything, it's highlighted the need for proper, considered, up-to-date legislation on these sorts of issues so that government agencies can't make flagrantly illegal requests like the FBI did.
Sent from the iMore App
How was the FBI's request "flagrantly illegal"? The original request was presented in the form of a search warrant certified by a judge, and authorized by the phone's owner. The best one can say is that the FBI's theories may have been novel, but in no way were the requests illegal.
Hey Rene...why didn't you tell us that the phone was broken into and that's why the fbi withdrew the case. Our iPhones aren't as secure as we thought.
Because Rene's blogging 'career' depends on dumb fanboy clickbaits rather than reporting facts.
Wouldn't that mean you are a dumb fanboy that fell for his click bait?
.. Or could it be that article that the fbi found an outside source was already posted on imore, and this article was actually about the quote after the fact?
Hmm, your choice i guess, grape or cherry koolaid you drinking?
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Seems like you failed at comprehending what i said. I didn't say people who click on his blogs are dumb fanboys, I said his posts are dumb and fanboyish and clickbaits in nature....Some of us come to ridicule his fanboyism...and the likes of you...worship his unintellectual rants.
This blog post mentions that the DOJ "bailed" because of pressure and precedent...which is incorrect. DOJ dropped the suit because they already broke into iphone not because they were under pressure. A fact that was conveniently omited which would have autimatically negated his argument that DOJ bailed because of pressure.
Thanks for your penetrating forensic analysis. Clearly he should have mentioned the events widely reported in all news outlets that are the background to the case, and because he fails to mention how Apple are evil, he is of course a fanboy, who probably lives with his mother and has a little Apple shrine in his bedroom, and the article is click bait, because umm.. because umm.. just because it is. I just can't help myself following every link on this one page story.
BTW I am interested that we all seem to take the FBI's explanation of why they have dropped the case at face value, because of course they would never be deceptive or tell half truths just to save face, would they?
Yes, so we should take some random screen name's paranoid conspiracy theories on a blog than the word of FBI, right?
You failed to mention in your post that fbi got 3rd party help to get data from that phone.
It has to be in every comment you make just as you think Rene needs to put it in everything he writes whether it has to do with that or not.
Don't be a hypocrite now!
Lol you stretch so far to bash someone whose job it is to get views and comments.. And you give him exactly what he's after, clicks, views, comments.
Good or bad everything he writes is consistently the most commented on.
And you do this all on a site for a product you don't even like, lol.
Both sad and amazing! Cant wait to see what clever response you come up with while adding more comments to his article :)
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Donald trump is also one of the most spoken character in US now (because of what he says publicly) so by your logic, people who spoke about him but doesn't agree with what he says is all sad and amazing?
FBI broke into the phone without the help of Apple which is why they dropped the suit....that's the headline..adding "with the help of a third party" doesn't really change the facts that iphone was broken into and FBI dropped the suit because they got into the iphone without the help of Apple.... BUT if it helps your failed logic, sure i'll add it for you, 'with the help of a third party, the FBI broke into the iphone as a result, they don't need Apple to create a backdoor, hence the suit was dropped... =]
"Good or bad everything he writes is consistently the most commented on." compared to who...other snooze-fest articles on here? sure, but AC articles get 10x more comments than anything Rene writes about.
Also, if being consistently ridiculed in the comment sections is a badge of honor for you guys and your Senpai, Rene, then by all means, enjoy this amazing 'success', and I'll be happy to continue to contribute to this 'success' ;=]
"With help of third party" had nothing to do with it? Thats what you got out of that? Lol i just meant you have to bring up the fact in every post because thats what you expect i more to do with every article even though theyve already reported it. Not really sure what you are trying to argue on that because we agree on the facts. I just meant you have to restate them each time
And Must be some very interesting stuff at ac, because you spend all your time here lol
And yes getting views and comments keeps the site alive. And imore might be dead without the rene haters waiting and checking imore for everything he writes :)
No idea what you are saying. Never said people not likeing or disagreeing with him was sad.
But waiting on a site for products you dont like just to acticles from a guy you dont like so you can bash him and there bu giving him more view so he can make more of those articles is a bit sad lol
In your analogy that would be like voting for trump just so you can voice out your opinion on him more
I never say I don't like Apple product. I think some of it are beautiful. But it's not the right phone for me.
And about your judgement on me. I just like to follow up on tech news (windows/android/apple), that's why I am here. It doesn't mean that I purposely come here to look for Rene's post to criticize it. that's all your assumption. **But I cannot denied that criticizing some of his Nazism ideology does amuse me :D
And last, I don't need to vote for trump in order to voice out my opinion on him. I just need to simply voice it out.
He should have more integrity and work to produce quality articles rather than clickbait articles for views and comments. His articles have a tendency to be more biased than those of others. Which is fine. We are on an Apple-centric website. But that doesn't mean he can't offer the actual facts rather than his opinion. The FBI didn't "bail when public pressure swung against them". They broke into the iPhone in question with the help of a third party thus no longer needed Apples help and THATS why they dropped the suit. Simply say that. Don't mislead the viewers into thinking something different. State the facts that were reported and then proceed with your opinion.
That ^
somebody ban this fumb duckhead -- he's really going to sit here and call us and the blog owner names? looks like he's lost and needs directions back to his android site.
Have you tried Yoga for your case of fanboy meltdown?
And you use "bootlicker"
Posted via the Android iMore App!
Because they have blogged about that like a half dozen times already in separate articles? maybe? possibly?
Because all three of your suppositions are patently false.
....Koolaid....
Goes great with either Grey Goose, Ketel One, or, as an ad hominem against Apple/iMore supporters on this blog.
why is it "koolaid"?
Here's where the phrase comes from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
It's a reference to the Jonestown Massacre, a mass murder-suicide that took the lives of over 900 people.
I think Wikipedia is wrong on this one. You don't use the phrase to indicate that people are taking part in mass suicide, surely it refers to the stories retold by Tom Wolfe in "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" where Kesey's Merry Pranksters would talk about whether someone had drunk the Kool Aid as shorthand as to whether they had had the psychedelic experience.
"Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. "
Even terrorists??
Posted via the iMore App for Android
Say hello to ISIS's most secure and effective communication tool: Apple's iphone.
Yup, because you can't have one without the other.
To protect the overwhelming majority, you also have to protect a few criminals. That's a sad but necessary side effect. Or you can stop protecting the majority, the criminals buy a different protection, and they end up being the only ones with a shield.
No no no. That's patently absurd. No citizen has a right to privacy once probable cause has been established and a judge issues a search warrant. Apple was always on the wrong side of this.
Posted via the iMore App for Android
"No citizen has a right to privacy" Do you even read what you're writing? That's just wrong…
You misquoted. Big time.
Posted via the Android iMore App!
Wow...you LITERALLY just pulled HALF of his comment to make your point? That is clearly NOT what he said at all. Wow....
wrong. a court order means the government can ask for the contents of a storage device. it doesnt mean you have to decrypt it for them -- especially if you're just the company that made the safe and has no idea whats inside of it or even the ability to read inside it.
Yes i agree that the citizen does not have the right to privacy once hes found guilty.
Problem is in this case to take away that one persons privacy means all citizens give up privacy.
If apple makes the ability to control that phone, then that ability is in all phones, privacy is lost.
Apple is clearly on the right side
Sent from the iMore App
It is interesting how people are against the right to privacy when using their phones but are at the same time ardent supporters of the right to bear arms (guns). It seems like there is a parallel here.
Erroneous and asinine. I am an ardent supporter of both. I don't see how you've drawn the correlation.
Well, regardless of how, they got into the phone. So I guess we can expect the FBI to announce a major breakthrough in the war on terror with the information they have accessed. That was the point, right?
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The point was to gain access to data and contacts and communications of a terrorist that killed Americans....shocker right?
nonsense -- anybody he called is traceable via phone logs. and iCloud has copies of contacts. you're suggesting he had hi-value data in his local Notes on his WORK phone, after destroying his PERSONAL phone. a dubious claim at best. but perfect for bootlickers.
What issues do you have with the FBI TRYING to prevent future attacks? I have NO issue with this. He was a TERRORIST. I couldn't care less about his rights. I have no issues with them searching through whatever they please.
He's obviously a terrorist apologist and doesn't care a whit about any of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting or their families.
Are you always this simple-minded? Uses your brain for more than 5 secs, would you?
What about everyone else's safety?
Sent from the iMore App
That's what I am saying. They should be gaining new info on future terror attacks, right?
Sent from the iMore App
"When public sentiment and legal interpretation swung against them, however, the Department of Justice chose to bail rather than risk opposing precedent. "
Rene never fail to amuse us by displaying his "Nazism" moral support towards Apple.
Fact:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/22/11094124/apple-fbi-survey-public-opini...
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
More fact: public opinion shifts
http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-divided-over-apples-phone-privacy-...
So huh...
"Americans are almost equally divided in the battle between national security and privacy interests being waged by Apple Inc. and the Justice Department"
Well the first paragraph just shows that the votes are equally divided (I cannot access the rest of the story as I doesn't have an WSJ account). Still doesn't justify Rene's statement that the public sentiment is against FBI.
What is the "independent voter" anyway?
go back to your samsung forums, if such a thing even exists.
Why?
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
I don't understand the criticism towards Rene not mentioning the FBI unlock. iMore already did a post on it http://m.imore.com/fbi-drops-legal-action-against-apple-iphone-unlock-case
This is a post regarding Apple's response to the case being shut. And for the record, the kool-aid that is being drank by those that believe anything the FBI claims seems to have two times the sugar. As long as the FBI's lips are moving, I can only assume they're lying
Just a guess, but many seems to be new .. I think we've a troll infestation .... lol
most definitely. the trolls are unhappy and angry that apple won (again), so they have to **** on everything to make the world look as they know it.
Apple is not event close to winning the case. Just that FBI had dropped it. You obviously are living in your little gummy bear apple happy world.
Good luck for growing up.
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
Dont know why they would be, google, microsoft were on apples side, a loss for apple meant a loss for all phones
Sent from the iMore App
"When public sentiment and legal interpretation swung against them, however, the Department of Justice chose to bail rather than risk opposing precedent."
This is the issue. Don't say they just "bailed"...say WHY they dropped the case. In this article. One sentence would suffice. This is a completely different article. It isn't an issue of the "trolls" wanting to attack Rene. I simply have an issue with him appearing to misrepresent the outcome of this all because of his disagreement with the FBI.
That's what I've been trying to point at all along.
Why not just say that then?
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I did. About 10 times. Maybe next time you should fully read my posts before blindly defending Rene.
Nope, if you said that 10 times you wouldnt of said thats what you were trying to say, what you said ten times is that every article has to state the fbi found help to get data even though its already been said.
Maybe you should proof read and say what you mean instead of trying.
No, What I repeatedly have said is that Rene makes it sound like FBI backed down from the suit because of pressure and precedent which is FALSE. FBI dropped the case because they got into the phone by other means not because of precedent or public opinion as Rene claims.
Put on your reading glasses or brush up on your reading comprehension and read the following quotes from myself that i have made in this comment section:
" 'however, the Department of Justice chose to bail rather than risk opposing precedent.' <=incorrect. They dropped the suit because the accomplished what they wanted to do which is gaining access to the phone."
AND
"This blog post mentions that the DOJ "bailed" because of pressure and precedent...which is incorrect. DOJ dropped the suit because they already broke into iphone not because they were under pressure."
If english isn't your first language I can put those quotes through google translator for you.
Dont throw a temper about it, simply state what you mean next time instead of waiting for others to say what you were trying to all along.
Its not difficult. :)
There is no temper at all...I'm actually all about assisting people with disabilities but your comprehension issues is a tough one to crack...In the quotes i pasted for you, I clearly stated my positions... I literally quoted Rene's sentence and put an "<=Incorrect" in front of it lol...and you still can't comprehend it...It was all fun and jokes till now but I'm getting a bit worried about you...Everything OK buddy?
I just dont get why youre so angry, everyone makes mistakes.
Need a hug?
I don't get why you think I'm angry..I'm having a blast poking fun at you and your lackluster reading comprehension =]
Meow!
Just take a deep breath and dont get so mad :) its all okay
How can I be mad at you when I see you're genuinely trying to push through that dyslexia to try to understand my sentences....I'm humbled actually..much love for all your efforts! you can do it!
Yikes, i can see my noticing your anger is making you more angry and lash out with insults.
Im sorry, i didn't realize youd be that sensitive to it.
Haha awwww....are you going through a raging repetitive spasm saying the same thing over and over again?....is that ibrain overwhelmed? have you tried Yoga bro? you're falling apart before my eyes =[.
Yes you are right, i am doing everything you say. :)
No reason to be mad now. :):)
I agree!......I'm glad you finally came around and snapped out of that spastic rage...cheers!! =]
I absolutely agree, i was on my period!
You breathing ok again?
Ahhh well that explains it...I'm breathing great!
Good, im glad :)
Disagreement with FBI is one thing. Blindly kissing apple àss is another thing. And based on what I observed so far. He seems more incline to be the later type. Which is fine, but I cannot stand that he keep posting twisted stories...
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
Every thing is hackable. Simple as that. Build something unhackable and it is forthrightly deemed illegal to uphold the law. Silent circle and every other "unhackable" swiss IM app/email service. Obama's berry is designed differently to not be hackable in line with upholding the law and keeping the most powerful man on the planet earth's mobility alive.
It was the wrong case, but this is not done yet.
Sent from the iMore App
Oh... thought they were admitting they shouldn't have made the Smart Battery Case.
:-P I kid, I kid...
It wouldn't surprise me if the FBI didn't actually get into the phone or get any information. And the phone in question is a 5C. Almost 3 generations old.
I do enjoy some fantastic comments of nonsense on this stream that are followed by "Sent from the iMore App for Android". My morning just got better.
The android operating system is so "secure" that the EU has recommended that no one use it.
yeah, the unhappy android trolls are here because there couldn't even BE a case about android -- it has no security.
Awwww...more "MY PHONE IS BETTER THAN YOURS" debates? When will you kids on both sides of the fence grow up? This has nothing to do with your immature ******* matches.
I wonder what Apple's stance on this case would have been had the terrorist done this heinous crime inside of Apple HQ?
I am all for keeping our privacy, don't get me wrong. However, I also think that backdoors need to be created for incidents like this. Sure it puts all of us at risk with the backdoor, but I'm not a terrorist, so they can snoop on my boring life as much as they want.
Your "boring life" won't sound so boring, once a hacker/backdoor user will have turn on the cam/mic on your phone and published moments of your "boring life" on YouTube! Or start transfering funds from your Bank account this his/her account! Or using the geo location to find your kids and kidnap them! ... Nice move!
I think everyone is missing something potentially huge here. For quite a while the FBI has been stating they needed help getting into the iPhone. Apple has been fighting a public fight, trying to show they believe in personal privacy (a statement that I actually believe). As soon as the rhetoric starts to heat up, along comes this dashing young warrior that can do the work for the FBI, absolving Apple from any perceived wrong doing either by assisting the FBI or indirectly assisting the terrorists by not assisting the FBI.
Isn't it just as plausible that someone at Apple (maybe Tim Cook, most likely someone else) proposed a solution that would make everyone a winner publicly? They would, behind the scenes, assist this 3rd party in providing a hacker OS that was in some way shape or fashion tied to Apples activation servers (so the OS couldn't be installed on something else) with the directive that the 3rd party would use it to assist the FBI. That way the FBI gets the info, Apple can say they defended the public, and the 3rd party gets a nice hefty sum from the FBI.
I'm not saying thats what happened, only that it's plausible.
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Possible but it fails Ockhams Razor alas.
What is bad about this is that it has become clear that the institutions that maintain they are best suited to safeguard the privacy of the US citizens are now outed as a bunch of liars and opportunists that will gladly bend the law as well as the truth to further their own political agenda. The FBI and DoJ are clearly fiefdoms outside the influence of government and are doing and behaving as they see fit. Do they take into account the privacy and security of the US citizen in behaving like this? No. Security for the citizen is not in their interest and they will gladly squander it.