It seems apparent to me that Apple leaked this information to US press in an attempt to get the UK to back off. Wouldn't Apple also try to subvert the attempt for US intelligence to get a backdoor? Or do we think Apple has less of a leg to stand on with US and would be more likely to roll over?
> Or do we think Apple has less of a leg to stand on with US and would be more likely to roll over?
Apple has no leg to stand on at all. When the NSA comes to your door and demands access to everything you have you don't get to say no. There is no court you can appeal to, and they'll take whatever they want and order you to keep your mouth shut about it. They'll walk right into your headquarters and data centers, force you to move your employees so they can set up an office for themselves on your property, insert their equipment into your network directly and take everything just like they did with AT&T decades ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A)
Your only options are to comply or shut down (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit) and I'm not even sure the US government would allow "shut down" as an option in some cases. It seems likely that they'd keep a massive target like Apple running even if the owners of the company wanted to cease operations, but lets be honest, Apple makes a lot of people very very rich so they'd never walk away from that. They'll keep making their money and just try to convince themselves that the US are the "good guys" and so it must be okay.
Obviously, Apple is going to comply with US federal law, given that their headquarters and employees are there, as well as their most profitable market. But when possible, they have shown themselves willing to fight against intrusion.
I can't imagine all cloud providers weren't leaned on heavily to provide this access long time ago. Its a treasure trove too juicy to be ignored. Pro quid pro of course.
Anything else is highly illogical or outright stupid, imagine CIA or NSA having meeting on this decade and a half ago and deciding 'well if they won't give us full access when we asked nicely I guess that's it, we have to respect the law and their wish'. LOL. They don't respect basic human rights at all if you don't hold US passport, and even then the list of cases breaking laws and constitution is endless.
Apple is good with their PR, but why do folks accept their every word literally and not as part of marketing spin to sell more services is beyond me. Rest of the market is not even trying to spin it that way which is actually more respectable behavior.
You're including end-to-end encrypted content in that as well, like from Advanced Data Protection?
> If you choose to enable Advanced Data Protection, the majority of your iCloud data – including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes and more – is protected using end-to-end encryption. No one else can access your end-to-end encrypted data, not even Apple, and this data remains secure even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.
I have no opinion on whether US intel has a backdoor into this e2e encryption or not. It seems like the sort of thing where people non-chalantly state that it must happen, but of course no one ever has actual proof or a source.
I mean, you're right. People think "end to end" encryption helps them, but they forget that Apple controls both the server and client more than the user does.
No. Whistleblowers are extremely rare. Snowden did it, but he also worked with thousands of other employees who had knowledge of some, if not all, of the abuses Snowden told us about, but not one of them came forward. This is pretty much always the case when it comes to whistleblowers. For every one who came forward there were many many more who knew and stayed silent and it's hard to blame them. Whistleblowers are harshly punished, and sometimes killed in retaliation.
Being willing to sacrifice everything you have, including your career, your freedom, and potentially your life, just to let the public know the truth is not something you should expect people to do. It's a huge amount of risk and sacrifice while the only reward is knowing that you've done the right thing even though you'll be vilified and punished for it. That's what makes whistleblowers heroes.
Not necessarily. There's a lot of people absolutely unwilling to risk loosing their salary and career. If you are doxxed as the leaker, what other company would hire you? I'm not even considering if there could be criminal charges involved as well.
Snowden left an example of what kind of lifestyle is possible after leaking, and I doubt snowflakes at FAANG would be down for that. Or how about other examples of leakers that have turned up dead? That's a cheery thought to consider.
So yeah, at this point in time, I do believe there's a lot of people that might not agree, but are not up for the task.
Snowden chose that lifestyle. If he had stayed in the US, he would be out of prison already, just without a security clearance. The longest sentence anyone ever got for leaking government information to the media is 63 months, with a release after 50 months on good behavior.
Apple is famous for keeping projects secret from its own employees. To be clear, I think it's unlikely that this has already been set up for the US, but it would be easiest to do at Apple.
It seems apparent to me that Apple leaked this information to US press in an attempt to get the UK to back off. Wouldn't Apple also try to subvert the attempt for US intelligence to get a backdoor? Or do we think Apple has less of a leg to stand on with US and would be more likely to roll over?
> Or do we think Apple has less of a leg to stand on with US and would be more likely to roll over?
Apple has no leg to stand on at all. When the NSA comes to your door and demands access to everything you have you don't get to say no. There is no court you can appeal to, and they'll take whatever they want and order you to keep your mouth shut about it. They'll walk right into your headquarters and data centers, force you to move your employees so they can set up an office for themselves on your property, insert their equipment into your network directly and take everything just like they did with AT&T decades ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A)
Your only options are to comply or shut down (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit) and I'm not even sure the US government would allow "shut down" as an option in some cases. It seems likely that they'd keep a massive target like Apple running even if the owners of the company wanted to cease operations, but lets be honest, Apple makes a lot of people very very rich so they'd never walk away from that. They'll keep making their money and just try to convince themselves that the US are the "good guys" and so it must be okay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_d...
Obviously, Apple is going to comply with US federal law, given that their headquarters and employees are there, as well as their most profitable market. But when possible, they have shown themselves willing to fight against intrusion.
2 replies →
You've never heard of courts? The world does not work the way you think it does at all.
I can't imagine all cloud providers weren't leaned on heavily to provide this access long time ago. Its a treasure trove too juicy to be ignored. Pro quid pro of course.
Anything else is highly illogical or outright stupid, imagine CIA or NSA having meeting on this decade and a half ago and deciding 'well if they won't give us full access when we asked nicely I guess that's it, we have to respect the law and their wish'. LOL. They don't respect basic human rights at all if you don't hold US passport, and even then the list of cases breaking laws and constitution is endless.
Apple is good with their PR, but why do folks accept their every word literally and not as part of marketing spin to sell more services is beyond me. Rest of the market is not even trying to spin it that way which is actually more respectable behavior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_d...
You are out of your mind if you think files in iCloud are somehow outside the reach of US intel.
It’s been publicly used in a bunch of prosecutions at this point.
We all know Apple (and everyone else) gives data to law enforcement all over the world https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/
You're including end-to-end encrypted content in that as well, like from Advanced Data Protection?
> If you choose to enable Advanced Data Protection, the majority of your iCloud data – including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes and more – is protected using end-to-end encryption. No one else can access your end-to-end encrypted data, not even Apple, and this data remains secure even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/108756
I have no opinion on whether US intel has a backdoor into this e2e encryption or not. It seems like the sort of thing where people non-chalantly state that it must happen, but of course no one ever has actual proof or a source.
We're specifically talking about files encrypted E2E using ADP. Can you point to any such files being used in prosecutions?
> It’s been publicly used in a bunch of prosecutions at this point
Can you give an example then? It would be major hacker news news if supposedly E2EE iCloud data were used in a prosecution.
Got any sources to back that up?
I mean, you're right. People think "end to end" encryption helps them, but they forget that Apple controls both the server and client more than the user does.
Don’t you think out of the thousands of Apple employees that someone would leak it?
No. Whistleblowers are extremely rare. Snowden did it, but he also worked with thousands of other employees who had knowledge of some, if not all, of the abuses Snowden told us about, but not one of them came forward. This is pretty much always the case when it comes to whistleblowers. For every one who came forward there were many many more who knew and stayed silent and it's hard to blame them. Whistleblowers are harshly punished, and sometimes killed in retaliation.
Being willing to sacrifice everything you have, including your career, your freedom, and potentially your life, just to let the public know the truth is not something you should expect people to do. It's a huge amount of risk and sacrifice while the only reward is knowing that you've done the right thing even though you'll be vilified and punished for it. That's what makes whistleblowers heroes.
Not necessarily. There's a lot of people absolutely unwilling to risk loosing their salary and career. If you are doxxed as the leaker, what other company would hire you? I'm not even considering if there could be criminal charges involved as well.
Snowden left an example of what kind of lifestyle is possible after leaking, and I doubt snowflakes at FAANG would be down for that. Or how about other examples of leakers that have turned up dead? That's a cheery thought to consider.
So yeah, at this point in time, I do believe there's a lot of people that might not agree, but are not up for the task.
Snowden chose that lifestyle. If he had stayed in the US, he would be out of prison already, just without a security clearance. The longest sentence anyone ever got for leaking government information to the media is 63 months, with a release after 50 months on good behavior.
3 replies →
Apple is famous for keeping projects secret from its own employees. To be clear, I think it's unlikely that this has already been set up for the US, but it would be easiest to do at Apple.