Even Cruz misses the point, partially. Over at Lawnews website they are saying the FBI now claims there maybe another shooter. But ONLY after Apple refused to honor their ill-advised warrant.
Sure, another shooter, yeah, yeah, THAT’S the ticket!
The same shooter the FBI went OUT OF THEIR WAY to deny for months?! Maybe the real reason is that the FBI is trying to make the low information MSM, including Breitbart, and the low information candidates, led by Trump, say things that are not true.
Cruz comes closest to the real argument by limiting the access to that one phone. However, he doesn’t have all the facts. And I’m sure if he were in charge of the prosecution, he’d be asking the same hard questions of the FBI. Below is one of my comments. Basically, it covers the problem in a nutshell.
Can I make this simple? As a former career detective, this is not about catching anyone. This is about getting access to something the FBI doesn’t have…yet. It drives cops crazy that we don’t know what someone else is doing. It’s our nature.
Let’s go over the facts here. This is just ONE phone! What is on it that can outweigh the privacy of millions of non involved innocent citizens?
In a sense, as pointed out by a poster at another site, this is like a safe- owned by the county- that should be opened. Sure, but staying with that, youhave to realize this “safe” is identical to millions of other “safes” that other innocent people own. And the FBI wants Apple to rewrite code and remotely open that safe, which at the same time opens millions of others.
Plus, the feds can crack it. The FBI could walk over to the new NSA center in Utah with their supercomputers and hand them the phone. But then that would not get the FBI what they really want, would it?
The “balance” between the citizens’ rights and what is on the phone is what is in question.
Warrants are not stone tablets from God. They are warrants- demands by a judge, who may or may not understand what they are signing or demanding, based on what the police think they know or can prove, and they may not know- or care- about what it is they are asking.
I’ve had many warrants go unfulfilled because the target cannot or will not comply.
Further, and this is important, let’s go over what the FBI DOES have to work with. They have the ICloud, texts, computers, web traffic, both terrorists are dead, there is a living co-conspirator that is cooperating, their families, friends, and the ton of paperwork that is their physical and digital life. At this point what else do they need to close THIS case or find the other shooter?? Do they think there is a selfie on the phone, a group hug photo of all the members?
If the FBI can’t close it, with all they have, what they really need is new agents in charge!
Jeeezz…. and now after months of denying it, they claim a third shooter? What evidence do they have? All the rounds fired at the scene should come back to two guns- both owned by the couple.
Do they have fired casings with unmatched striations? Unmatched bullets? A new eyewitness they did not know about- because they discounted all of the rest of them when rushing to lock down the first narrative in the first hours after the attack.
Now suddenly the “emergency” is there is possibly, maybe, perhaps, Gee golly we got it wrong, another shooter AND that shooter’s identity is on the phone?
Riiiight. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale I want you to look at.
Again, all about access. Apple should say no and demand proof of a third shooter. Sometimes, even with a warrant, the police don’t get their way. This is one of those times.
Some people say Apple should crack THIS phone for the FBI. I say this; the problem it creates is two fold. One, the FBI will find another phone they is as important and demand the same thing, creating that slippery slope. Two, the demand to create the software will expose everyone else to the threat of being hacked. Legally, the FBI will argue they need a copy of the alteration so they can do the downloading of data from the phone. Chain of evidence and all.
However, if you want to test the theory, then have Apple, if the can (remember the new OS is supposed to be unbreakable), take the phone into their labs, apply the code change, download the information, fill out an affidavit to the accuracy of that data and hand the data over. Then wipe the phone of the new OS adaptation.
See if the FBI says yes to that.
Does anyone really think for a second the FBI will settle with Apple handing them the data? And if they do, do you think they won’t come back again and again as Apple 6 OS phones get out into the public?
Stay the course Apple. Demand them to explain to all of us what they think they will get versus the damage they will do.
Do you know how screwed up the argument is? The feds are using a 227 year old law to justify it. And of course, as we can predict, the “outraged” Congress will write a new law saying it is now criminal to refuse the warrant or not cooperate.
No privacy. Privacy means you are hiding something!
Nice, just as we are three “strongman” candidates running for President.
Update: Seems the FBI changed the password AFTER getting the phone from the dead terrorists. What is the new password?
“Iiiieee… forgot!”
The password for the San Bernardino shooter’s iCloud account associated with his iPhone was reset hours after authorities took possession of the device.
The Justice Department acknowledged in its court filing that the password of Syed Farook’s iCloud account had been reset. The filing states, “the owner [San Bernardino County Department of Public Health], in an attempt to gain access to some information in the hours after the attack, was able to reset the password remotely, but that had the effect of eliminating the possibility of an auto-backup.”
Apple could have recovered information from the iPhone had the iCloud password not been reset, the company said. If the phone was taken to a location where it recognized the Wi-Fi network, such as the San Bernardino shooters’ home, it could have been backed up to the cloud, Apple suggested.
For the love of God….
