FBI won't be forced to reveal San Bernardino iPhone hacking tool

[fr3d3r1ck]

 

A disclosure would allegedly invite retaliatory hacks.

 

The Associated Press, USA Today and Vice News have failed in their attempt to reveal the hacking tool the FBI used to access San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook's iPhone. Judge Tanya Chutkan denied their request in a summary judgment ruling issued late on September 30th, arguing that the risks involved in naming the vendor (and thus the tool) or the price paid are too serious to honor a Freedom of Information Act request. It would make the company a target for retaliatory hacks and exploits that it likely couldn't withstand, Judge Chutkan said, while the price would tell "adversaries" how readily the FBI can use the tool in the future.

 

She also rejected the argument that former FBI director James Comey's mention of a "very high" price equated to official disclosure that compelled a wider release. The information had to be more specific than that, according to the ruling. And while Comey noted that the tool was only effective against an iPhone 5c running iOS 9, the FBI could theoretically find a way to expand its usefulness or ask the developer to build a similar implementation. If the vendor is exposed, Judge Chutkan said, this could "hurt the FBI's future efforts to protect national security."

 

This isn't going to please privacy advocates concerned that the FBI has such power, especially as it might be maintaining this power solely through obscurity -- it might get into your phone only because an outside security researcher hasn't discovered the flaw yet. And is the theoretical future usefulness of the tool a good enough excuse to keep it under wraps? At the same time, it's hard to ignore the likelihood that any public disclosure would likely invite some kind of retaliation. The judge had to strike a difficult balance, and it's not necessarily clear that it's the right balance.

 

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/01/fbi-does-not-have-to-reveal-iphone-hacking-tool/

 

[ACERSO6K]

[pc71520]

That's it...Power through OBSCURITY...

[steven36]

It's not really shocking  they way things are now  the the war on whistleblowers is over and the only reason you know about it at all is because of blabbermouths like James Comey who were dumb enough to try too take Apple too court over it and didn't  just pay a researchers  too hack it too begin with . Everything  is hush hush again the Feds have  black opt  programs long before the internet existed and it got really bad after 9-11  and things are back too that point again so what Snowden done in 2013 really don't dictate what rolls in 2017. There is a different admin in charge now that will have you fired  if you leak stuff too the press or have people on you're watch that do.

 

1. I'm smartphone free, cell phones don't get a good signal were I live I only have a Burner too use when away from home.

2. If people didn't commit crimes or suspected of them  and talk about it on a public airways regulated  by the Government  they would not have this problem. But every thug even in the Ghetto has a cell phone they use too commit crimes with. 

3. People think they need the internet too go too the bathroom even and the problem with cell phones there not just computers like PCs are there phones too witch have always been contorted by the government the FBI has been listing in on phones since the 1950s when they 1st formed. 

[CODYQX4]

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