FBI vs. Apple: A fool's mission
Part one of two: Low Hanging Fruit
The recent efforts of the FBI to force Apple to make user information inside Apple machines available to the Feds is making the headlines. Donald Trump said, “Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information.” Others have made the same claims.
On Feb. 15, Judge Sheri Pym of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles declared Apple must provide “reasonable technical assistance” to investigators seeking to unlock the data on an iPhone that had been owned by Syed Rizwan Farook, the killer in San Bernardino.
More recently, the Obama administration said Apple could retain possession and then destroy the hacking capability it would furnish the FBI. The Justice Department said, “Apple may maintain custody of the software...[or destroy it]...and make sure it does not apply to [others] without lawful court orders.”
Obama’s effort is a fool’s mission. The sophisticated terrorists, drug lords, and other high-level sociopaths have already encrypted their files within their machines. I cannot speak as an Apple user, but I can encrypt my Windows/Word files inside my Lenovo computer. I see no technical reason why any user cannot do the same with their own machine. Thus, the FBI might get inside a user’s machine, such as my Lenovo personal computer, but it cannot read my encrypted files.
By writing this article, I am not giving away secrets. I use commonly available applications based on publicly known systems to make my files unbreakable. (Truth in disclosure: Laziness takes over. I encrypt only a few of my files.) They cannot be opened by anyone who does not know the password (also called a key or passcode) to decode the material.
Once becomes Twice, then becomes Many
This one-time action of Uncle Sam requiring a computer/phone manufacturer to “open” its machine will not result in a one-time action. The next phone that is discarded near the vicinity of a terrorist act (a drug-related killing, etc.) will have the same result: Uncle Sam will demand: “Open this machine so the government can examine its contents.”
If Apple writes the software to open one iPhone, it has the software to open all iPhones (on Apple’s new operating system). This kind of backdoor is what Apple has sought to avoid in its new products, thus giving its customers more security.
I applaud Apple for its approach. Among other attributes, it marks Apple as a company that has a goal of protecting its customers’ privacy, instead of the Googles of the world, who make their living exposing their customers’ privacy.
It is conceivable that laws will be passed giving the government the technology to perform this “opening” on its own volition, yet without sufficient legal oversight. If you doubt my claim, check the recent court decrees on NSA doing illegal “wire taps” of cellular phone and Internet traffic.
Low hanging fruit
Most Internet users assume their files — letters, medical reports, et al — are known only to themselves and their communicating partners. But if we are doubtful, if we wish to keep our correspondence completely private, we can do so.
All it takes is to follow a few simple instructions, prompted by user-friendly screens (explained in a CDA Press article on Jan. 6, 2016). Once altered, the files can only be read by you and those to whom you give a key, which is not all that difficult to distribute.
But you and I are likely not encrypting our notes to our loved ones, or even sensitive business reports. We are low hanging fruit, easily picked off by governments and commercial enterprises.
This low hanging fruit may include the files on the Apple iPhone of the San Bernardino killer and other (as-of-now) clueless terrorists. Unwary killers might not know their files inside their machines can indeed be read. But many of them do know how to encrypt the traffic that is sent on public networks.
The situation brings forth the question: How much freedom do we forsake to gain more security? I cannot pretend to know the answer to this question. I can only offer some ideas about the subject in the second part of this article.
Uyless Black is an award-winning author who has written 40 books on a variety of subjects. His latest book is titled “2084 and Beyond,” a work on the origins and consequences of human aggression. He resides in Coeur d’Alene.