Microsoft sides with Apple (so against the FBI request for a backdoor)

[GoodBytes]

As you may recall the Apple vs FBI story, where the FBI requested Apple for a way to by-pass iPhone  security system to access a criminal iPhone (well covered on this forum under this section).

 

Many companies have expressed their views and which side they are supporting, but Microsoft one was unknown for a while.

 

Today, Microsoft view has been revealed. Brad Smith President  and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft has said that Microsoft wholeheartedly (his words), supports of Apple.

 

 

Nick Wingfield is a journalist of the New York Times.

 

WinBeta reporting the news says:

Quote

An amicus brief refers to someone who is not a party to a case and offers information that bears on the case, but who has not been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court.

 

Source: http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-wholeheartedly-supports-apple-backdoor-case-says-brad-smith-congressional-committee

 

It took time for Microsoft to take sides, but at least now it is known.

 

[Nowak]

Makes sense. Apple and Microsoft have been closer to friendly rivals for a long time now, and when Jobs was alive he and Gates were friends.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Apparently Bill Gates has sided with the FBI, as well as Mark Zuckerberg. (Obviously, Gates is not as high standing in MS as he used to be, but it's still interesting).

Seems like Apple isn't backing down, though, They're reportedly prepared to use the First and Fifth Amendments to defend their position. 

[thexzenon]

Glad to hear this, at least a good thing PR-wise.  But doesn't Microsoft actually have access to most of your things? Or did all W10 haters skew my opinion of MS so much?

[branden_lucero]

sorry but, if you're a terrorist and actually committed any act of war including the killing of innocence, what constitutional rights do you have again? i'm a little bit confused by this process. so who is Apple actually protecting here, themselves? the general public? the terrorists? i still dont follow.

[Citadelen]

5 minutes ago, branden_lucero said:

sorry but, if you're a terrorist and actually committed any act of war including the killing of innocence, what constitutional rights do you have again? i'm a little bit confused by this process. so who is Apple actually protecting here, themselves? the general public? the terrorists? i still dont follow.

User privacy as a whole, the FBI want a back door into IOS, thing is anyone with enough talent would find a way to exploit that.

[GoodBytes]

11 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Apparently Bill Gates has sided with the FBI, as well as Mark Zuckerberg. (Obviously, Gates is not as high standing in MS as he used to be, but it's still interesting).

Seems like Apple isn't backing down, though, They're reportedly prepared to use the First and Fifth Amendments to defend their position. 

Bill Gates doesn't side with the FBI.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/23/bill-gates-fbi-apple-san-bernardino-killer-phone

[Moonzy]

imo telling a company to ruin a product they made is like telling them to go f themselves
if they can crack their encryption, does that mean its not good enough?

if other people wanna crack the phone, i would agree that they do, but telling a company to ruin their own product is really rude

[TheMcSame]

4 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Apparently Bill Gates has sided with the FBI, as well as Mark Zuckerberg. (Obviously, Gates is not as high standing in MS as he used to be, but it's still interesting).

Not sure about Zuck, but I'm pretty sure the whole Gates thing was typical media clickbait. He contradicted Cook, but he never explicitly said Apple should comply as far as I'm aware.

 

4 hours ago, branden_lucero said:

sorry but, if you're a terrorist and actually committed any act of war including the killing of innocence, what constitutional rights do you have again? i'm a little bit confused by this process. so who is Apple actually protecting here, themselves? the general public? the terrorists? i still dont follow.

The idea is that Apple is protecting everyone else. The FBI want Apple to slap a backdoor into an update (at least that's what I seem to keep reading). Not only would the US Gov use that to snoop around, but more importantly, someone with malicious intentions could exploit the same backdoor.

The guy shouldn't have any of his rights, completely agree there. But sometimes you need to do things for the greater good. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

16 minutes ago, branden_lucero said:

sorry but, if you're a terrorist and actually committed any act of war including the killing of innocence, what constitutional rights do you have again? i'm a little bit confused by this process. so who is Apple actually protecting here, themselves? the general public? the terrorists? i still dont follow.

 

I agree with your rights comment, but by Apple unlocking the phone they are kind of opening a can of worms.  If Apple agrees to unlock the phone then anytime the government wants information from an Apple device in the future, then they'll go right to Apple(give someone an inch and they take a mile).  In the future it could be an upstanding American citizen that they decide they want information from.

 

The outcome of this case could also serve as a blow to debate on encryption.

[denestmor3]

In my opinion Apple should not be able to acces there costumers data which isn't the case right now fortunaly. With that said I also think it isn't Apple's problem the FBI can't crack the phone and that they should find a way crack it. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

12 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Bill Gates doesn't side with the FBI.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/23/bill-gates-fbi-apple-san-bernardino-killer-phone

"With his intervention, Gates stands on the opposite side of the conflict to many of the prominent figures in Silicon Valley, including Google’s Sundar Pichai and WhatsApp’s Jan Koum, and the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden."

"The Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has waded into the row between Apple and the FBI, arguing that the government agency is right to demand co-operation from Silicon Valley when it comes to terrorism investigations."

The article seems to say he backs the FBI. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 minute ago, denestmor3 said:

In my opinion Apple should not be able to acces there costumers data which isn't the case right now fortunaly. With that said I also think it isn't Apple's problem the FBI can't crack the phone and that they should find a way crack it. 

 

The FBI definitely should be able to crack it themselves, it's ridiculous.  This whole thing could just be a ploy to make people think the government doesn't already have access to their information.

[Sir Asvald]

3 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

The FBI definitely should be able to crack it themselves, it's ridiculous.  This whole thing could just be a ploy to make people think the government doesn't already have access to their information.

They can't crack the OS. They need a new OS which won't delete the whole phone data after 10 tries of the PIN.

[denestmor3]

1 minute ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

The FBI definitely should be able to crack it themselves, it's ridiculous.  This whole thing could just be a ploy to make people think the government doesn't already have access to their information.

That could be true. And if that isn't the case they should really step up their game instead of suing Apple. 

[Monkey Dust]

14 minutes ago, branden_lucero said:

sorry but, if you're a terrorist and actually committed any act of war including the killing of innocence, what constitutional rights do you have again? i'm a little bit confused by this process. so who is Apple actually protecting here, themselves? the general public? the terrorists? i still dont follow.

Or to look at it another way. Online fraud is huge, and in addition to criminal gangs who profit handsomely from it, it could also, and almost certainly has, fund terrorism. strong encryption on all devices could bring this down over the coming years and cut off a potential source of funding for terrorist groups. If a backdoor exists, others can find it, rendering the device insecure.

[imperialplanet]

The programmers of the OS must be faltered that the FBI cant break into the OS. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, Abdul201588 said:

They can't crack the OS. They need a new OS which won't delete the whole phone data after 10 tries of the PIN.

Is that really how iPhones work? I honestly have no idea.  It seems like this is ultra strict, couldn't someone basically reformat someone else's phone just by guessing the pin wrong 10 times?

[Stadin6]

1 minute ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Is that really how iPhones work? I honestly have no idea.  It seems like this is ultra strict, couldn't someone basically reformat someone else's phone just by guessing the pin wrong 10 times?

if you enable a setting the iPhone will delete all data after 10 failed tries.

 

[Sir Asvald]

3 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Is that really how iPhones work? I honestly have no idea.  It seems like this is ultra strict, couldn't someone basically reformat someone else's phone just by guessing the pin wrong 10 times?

Yeah. Yeah a couple of incorrect times will delete everything from the phone.

http://ioshacker.com/how-to/enable-erase-data-option-delete-data-10-failed-passcode-attempts

[TidaLWaveZ]

This stuff is just getting ridiculous.Now Apple admittedly has the power to access information on your phone against your will, Microsoft blatantly has the power to access information on your computer against your will.  What's next, the complete extinction of digital privacy? 

 

I need to make the password for my encrypted drives stronger.

[PCgamer324]

Breakdown:

 

 

 FBI fucked up

 

They need apple to fix what they fucked up

 

Apple doesn't want to commit international PR suicide like Cisco and Juniper with their NSA backdoors

 

[branden_lucero]

1 hour ago, Abdul201588 said:

Yeah. Yeah a couple of incorrect times will delete everything from the phone.

http://ioshacker.com/how-to/enable-erase-data-option-delete-data-10-failed-passcode-attempts

to so Apple gives in, the consumers are basically screwed. Apple would hand the FBI the key and free will

that is the stupidest shit i ever seen. imagine if that was on Win10 while you were gone and away and left your pc on. some babysitter isnt watching the kids very well and is messing around with your pin setup. you come no, you pin in, and everything is gone. 

[atrash]

18 minutes ago, branden_lucero said:

to so Apple gives in, the consumers are basically screwed. Apple would hand the FBI the key and free will

that is the stupidest shit i ever seen. imagine if that was on Win10 while you were gone and away and left your pc on. some babysitter isnt watching the kids very well and is messing around with your pin setup. you come no, you pin in, and everything is gone. 

That has got to be the stupidest babysitter or a crook in disguise if he/she keeps trying to log in even after several failed attempt at first.

 

Also, there's a timeout for every failed login attempt on iOS and it gets longer every time you try and failed.

[minimoose]

I just want to throw this out there... 

 

I keep seeing people say that if you're a terrorist who has killed people and committed crimes you don't have any constitutional rights. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. All US citizens have certain rights such the right to an attorney and the right to a speedy trial. That isn't really applicable here, but it's still important. So even aside from the iPhone,  these people still have rights