Earlier we reported that in a sign of “defiance”, Tim Cook said he would oppose the “chilling” government demand to help the FBI hack its own phones, and that it vehemently opposes the government’s intention to implement a back door in iPhones. Just hours later Donald Trump has decided to join the fray in the biggest topic of the day, by insisting that Apple should unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.
“To think that Apple won’t allow us to get into her cell phone,” Trump said on Fox and Friends Wednesday morning. “Who do they think they are? No, we have to open it up.“
As the Hill reports, Trump argued vehemently that Apple should help investigators crack the phone’s encryption system.
“Apple, this is one case, this is a case that certainly we should be able to get into the phone,” he said. “And we should find out what happened, why it happened, and maybe there’s other people involved and we have to do that.”
To be sure, this is not Apple’s first time standing up for encryption and personal security: Cook has repeatedly argued that building any guaranteed access for law enforcement into devices — what has been short-handed as a “back door” — would undermine the overall security of the device.
“There have been people that suggest that we should have a backdoor. But the reality is if you put a backdoor in, that backdoor’s for everybody, for good guys and bad guys,” Cook said in a December interview with “60 Minutes.”
Trump disagreed stridently on Wednesday, calling it a matter of “common sense.”
“I agree 100% with the courts,” the business mogul said. “In that case, we should open it up. I think security over all — we have to open it up, and we have to use our heads. We have to use common sense.”
However, as we further showed earlier, it would appear that both sides of the argument are merely padding on theatrics to an issue that has long ago been resolved in favor of the government. Once again, this is what we reported back in September 2013 in, when the revelations from Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing campaign emerged:
NSA Mocks Apple’s “Zombie” Customers; Asks “Your Target Is Using A BlackBerry? Now What?”
The following slide comes from a secret presentation called “Your target isusing a BlackBerry? Now what?” It shows an email from a Mexican government agency which was sent using BlackBerry encryption technology — and intercepted by the NSA nonetheless.
But the kicker is when, in another secret presentation, the NSA itself mocks Orwell, using a reference from the iconic Apple “1984” advertisement…
… As it says the man who has become “Big Brother” is none other than AAPL’s deceased visionary leader Steve Jobs…
… And is so very grateful for Apple’s paying client “Zombies” who make its job so much easier
In other words, not only does the government already have easy access to any iPhone it seeks to “enter”, but today’s dramatic and vocal defense by Cook, and the likewise just as dramatic theatrics by Donald Trump are just that.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/20E0qsl Tyler Durden