Apple, The FBI And Your Privacy

Looking for a way out of the Apple / FBI standoff over smartphone privacy. There may not be one.

One win for Apple yesterday, when a federal judge denied the U.S. government’s request for Apple to pull data from an iPhone in a New York drug case. But the big Apple-FBI confrontation is still on over the San Bernardino iPhone. The FBI wants in. It’s about encryption and privacy and law enforcement. We’ve got the former head of the N.S.A. and the CIA with us, with a position you might not expect. This hour On Point, Apple, the FBI, and the future of privacy.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Kim Zetter, senior staff reporter at WIRED, covering cybercrime, privacy and security. (@KimZetter)

Michael Hayden, principal at the Chertoff Group, a security consultancy. Retired Air Force general and former director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency. Author of the new book, "Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror." (@GenMhayden)

James Lewis, former government official who writes on cyber security and warfare at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (@james_a_lewis)

Nate Cardozo, staff attorney on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's digital civil liberties team. (@ncardozo)

The Wall Street Journal: Judge Sides With Apple in N.Y. Drug Case Involving Locked Phone — "A federal judge in New York sided Monday with Apple Inc. against the Justice Department, about whether the company can be forced to help investigators extract data from a locked phone—a ruling that could affect a similar, much-watched case involving a shooter’s phone in California."

WIRED: Apple’s FBI Battle Is Complicated. Here’s What’s Really Going On -- "This isn’t about unlocking a phone; rather, it’s about ordering Apple to create a new software tool to eliminate specific security protections the company built into its phone software to protect customer data. Opponents of the court’s decision say this is no different than the controversial backdoor the FBI has been trying to force Apple and other companies to build into their software—except in this case, it’s an after-market backdoor to be used selectively on phones the government is investigating."

Re/Code: Apple General Counsel to Take Encryption Argument to Congress -- "Encryption is a good thing, a necessary thing. We have been using it in our products for over a decade. As attacks on our customers’ data become increasingly sophisticated, the tools we use to defend against them must get stronger too. Weakening encryption will only hurt consumers and other well-meaning users who rely on companies like Apple to protect their personal information."