It seemed appropriate to follow up on my previous post since the first substantive question of the most recent Republican and Democratic town halls pertained to phone metadata in anti-terrorism. If you have not heard, the FBI has obtained a court order against Apple. The order requires the business giant to "bypass or disable the auto-erase function" for one of the San Bernardino terrorist’s phones. Apple CEO Tim Cook responded in a message to their customers saying that they “oppose the order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”
The recent passing of the USA Freedom Act enables the government, with a warrant, to request phone metadata that companies collect. The Apple statement suggests that the government has already taken this step and that Apple has “done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them.” Apple is likely referring to providing data that is already in their possession on Apple’s cloud servers. It is likely that the relevant phone company has also provided what they have in their possession.
Then what’s the Problem
Unfortunately, the data that these companies keep does not include all the data that may be on the phone of the terrorist, Syen Rizwan Farook. As one might expect, the FBI wants access to the additional data. And why not? The additional information could help to stop other terrorist activities, it was used by a known terrorist, the terrorist is not alive anymore and the phone was actually owned by Farook’s employer, San Bernardino County, not the individual.
The hiccup is that the phone is password protected. “No biggee” you might say. Give it to a techie with some good software and they should be able to ‘brute force’ their way into the phone. Just write some code that attempts every possible passcode until one works. In many situations this is exactly how it’s done, but not in this case. The encrypted I-phone at the heart of this issue has a passcode lock feature with an auto-erase option after 10 incorrect entries. The FBI does not currently have the capability to crack the code without risking erasing all the data on the phone.
So Just Get Apple to Open Up the One Phone
But the limitation does not stop there. Apple, too, does not currently have the capability to access the data on the phone. According to an article in Saturday’s Washington Post, Apple has developed and marketed with a new emphasis on privacy in the last few years; a strategy that has culminated in the security offered in recent operating systems. Interestingly, this new emphasis follows on the heels of the Snowden leaks that led to the dismantling of the National Security Agency (NSA) bulk phone record collection program.
Apple intentionally did not develop a solution because they fear that doing so would create a “backdoor” that could be used repeatedly on any other I-phone. Apple suggests that “while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.”
Some technical and legal experts have clarified that the difference between this FBI request and others, is that the government wants more than just data. In effect, they want a private company to work on behalf of the government to develop a product, in this case, a new operating system. Apple's public statement stresses that this action will threaten the privacy of all their customers. However, we can't ignore that it will produce a vulnerability in the security of Apple's own operating system and in doing so, weakens the company's own marketing strategy.
What do the Candidates Think
Both of the Democratic Presidential Candidates were asked during Thursday’s Town Hall what they thought should be done. Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders admitted that the question was not an easy one to answer and proved it by not giving a specific solution. Instead, both called for the technology firms and government officials to come together and find common ground.
The three Republican candidates who spoke during Wednesday night’s town hall (Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz, and Dr. Ben Carson) were asked the same question. Rubio and Carson answered similarly to the Democrats, while Cruz suggested that Apple should comply, stressing that it was only one phone, ignoring Apple’s concerns of control. Donald Trump and Governor John Kasich were not asked the question during their appearance on Thursday night, but according to the U.S. News and World Report, both have criticized Apple’s opposition. Trump has gone as far as to tweet that we should, “Boycott all Apple products until such time as Apple gives cellphone info to authorities regarding radical Islamic terrorist couple from Cal."
As I stated in my prior post, my goal is not to tell you whom to vote for, but rather to instigate a discussion that increases awareness and enables individuals to make a more informed election decision.