Does any one out there believe FBI Director James Comey here? From the article – “We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it,” said James Comey in a letter released Sunday. If we lose this one, what can’t they do? What are your thoughts?
From Marketwatch:
FBI boss to Apple backers: ‘Stop saying the world is ending’
Published: Feb 22, 2016 5:41 a.m. ET
By Victor Reklaitis
Protesters worldwide plan to blast the FBI for trying to break into a terror suspect’s iPhone, and the general public looks like it’s mostly on Apple’s side in this fight.
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s director says everyone should essentially chill out.
“We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it,” said James Comey in a letter released Sunday.
“We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land.”
His letter also calls for more discussion about balancing privacy and safety: “I hope folks will take a deep breath and stop saying the world is ending, but instead use that breath to talk to each other.”
Comey’s comments come as the controversy continues around Apple’s refusal to comply with a court order to provide a backdoor into the iPhone used by San Bernardino, Calif., shooting suspect Syed Rizwan Farook.
Protesters are expected to gather Tuesday in more than 30 cities around the globe, including in Washington, D.C. — outside the FBI’s headquarters. A MarketWatch poll has found readers mostly in favor of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s defiant move, and newspaper editorials typically agree with Apple.
But the FBI’s top cop maintains that people should stop making such a big deal out of all this.
“The San Bernardino litigation isn’t about trying to set a precedent or send any kind of message. It is about the victims and justice,” Comey wrote in the letter. He argued the legal issue is “actually quite narrow,” and the FBI’s request is limited and its “value increasingly obsolete because the technology continues to evolve.”
His letter includes an appeal for a national conversation about “how to both embrace the technology we love and get the safety we need.” Comey, who became the FBI’s director in 2013, said there is “a serious tension between two values we all treasure — privacy and safety.”
“That tension should not be resolved by corporations that sell stuff for a living. It also should not be resolved by the FBI, which investigates for a living,” wrote Comey, whose prior gigs include serving as deputy attorney general and working as general counsel for defense giant Lockheed Martin and Ray Dalio’s hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.
“It should be resolved by the American people deciding how we want to govern ourselves in a world we have never seen before. We shouldn’t drift to a place — or be pushed to a place by the loudest voices,” Comey said.
Fuck the FBI, DHS, Apple, Obama, and the rest of the police surveillance state.
Admin……1,000 thumbs up . You mean that with all the NSA,FBI & CIA billions they can’t open up a phone. Geez……I thought with all the meta data being collected they’d know the San B. killers most intimate secrets…guess not !
I think Apple is being told to not unlock that phone by a power higher than the FBI.
Then the case can go to the Supreme Court.
Then the SC will then rule that ALL telecom companies, not just Apple, must ALWAYS reveal encryption codes WHENEVER the government wants them.
Then we lose. Again.
IMO this is all a smoke show to make people think their iphones are secure from guv snooping.
Stucky for the win.
That’s the most plausible explanation I could come up with.
Of course that would make it a conspiracy theory.
@ Stuck…I think Apple is being told to not unlock that phone by a power higher than the FBI.
You’re probably right about that part, Stucky. Then again, that higher power might be the DOJ on orders from Obama who seemingly would stop at nothing to protect Muslims, especially Muslims that might be compromised by the opening of the phone. It could be the proverbial can of worms that Obama wants to keep sealed. Like Buckhed said (above), it’s hard to believe that the NSA can not access that info.
I find it interesting that the FBI is more concerned with what is in the phone than what was in the jihadi’s apartment.
Definitely bigger things going on than a passcode.
The FBI said San Bernadino County reset the passcode. Did they forget to write the new one down?
It’s NOT about the terrorist’s individual phone…………
Mc Affee’s pres has already stated that they could/would unlock the phone and extract the data, they need FOR FREE!!
They would guesstimate about three weeks to do this task.
The FBI, NSA, et al don’t want that……. they want the encryption keys so they can unlock ALL phones, anywhere, anytime!!
The trouble with that request, would be that you could replicate that encryption code key as many times as you want, and we all know how secure the “old hard drives” are with respect to the “data falling into the wrong hands” type of scenario is going to work out. Sooner or later, it WILL fall into the wrong hands.
I say screw em!!!!
Flatman is 100% correct; and why would anyone believe a gov’t official.
Stucky…you have a warped mind – only way to understand how evil gov’ts really are.
With TPTB, it’s never prima facie but rather a ploy to dig their claws deeper into our Rights and wrap their tentacles tighter around our throats. It’s not really about what’s on that phone but what’s on billions of our phones that TPTB cannot currently control and spy on.
“Only what we want with a warrant” becomes “Everything we want with a rubber stamped warrant” tomorrow and then “Everything we want on demand without question or recourse” the day after that.
So spend some meditation time to the term “only” whenever the government uses it.
There’s still a smell to this story; whatever happened to the eyewitnesses who describe the gunmen as tall, white Men in combat gear? The local press acts like the husband/wife were indicted and found guilty. No “alleged” in their reporting; it’s a done deal. But many unanswered questions.
I lean on the side that this is all a ruse. But this time they actually killed innocent people.
Er . . . if the NSA has been forcing the phone companies to capture all emails and phone calls, that information should be available, no?
IF . . . wild maniac terrorists are coordinating with each other, any use of their phones or email should be just a matter of the NSA (and other alphabet-soup groups) getting their slimy secret warrants and retrieving.
Of course, these terrorists might be communicating over the Internet, say using cloud services, not email.
On the other hand, the terrorists who perpetrated the French massacre several Islamic genocidal attacks ago were observed to have used their own cell phones in the open, no encryption, just out there waiting to be found.
But the incompetent spy cadres could not use their non-God-given right to snoop, to snoop on those who needed to be snooped upon.
No, the Apple kerfuffle is a red herring.
Here’s a clue: Competent voice codes cannot be broken. Last I checked–and someone, please do set me aright on this–Japan’s Admiral’s Code had not yet been broken.
If the terrorist is well enough funded to have a good code, hacking his phone will be of no avail. Of course, it will indeed be of avail for the NSA to identify if you are using un-taxed Nevadan or Coloradan reefer . . .
I’m in the crowd with Stucky. Scalia’s death opens the door for a lot more mayhem.
The NSA should already have everything they need. If they don’t then what exactly are they storing?
As I told my wife, the bastards have already proven they will abuse any power they are given, why would I give them more?
Would they lie to us? Would they violate our God given constitutional rights? Uh……yeah! I wouldn’t give them anything EVER.
Ah So please to note that “the terrorists” read ‘patsys’ phone is to be hacked. What ever happened to the 3 tall, white Balaclava wearing shooters that entered the self-defense-free zone and disappeared from the MSM dialog within minutes of the latest false flag incident. Can you say’ operation Gladio?’ how about ‘strategy of tension?’ Better to seek facts than get lost in the synchronized drooling in the media. Don’t forget tp loot the bodies!!
If the Fascist-Communist win and all phones must have NSA back-doors, the bad guys will get off line equipment that encrypts the communications before it is sent over the phone. Then try to solve that problem you PTB SOBs.