Headline March 26, 2016/ ''' CRYPTO *WARS* GALORE '''

''' CRYPTO *WARS* GALORE '''

The case for the FBI:

'The only way to find out   [if Farook had more information about other possible attacks]    is to open up that phone and get in there. A lot of families of the victims   -we're kind of angry and confused as to why Apple is refusing to do this.'  That's Robert Velasco, father of the Bernardino shooting victim Yvette Velasco.

THE FIRST THING TO UNDERSTAND about Apple's ongoing fight with the FBI   -over a court order-

To help unlock the alleged San Bernardino shooter's phone   -is that it has *very little*   to do with the San Bernardino's  shooter's phone.

It's not even really the latest round of the Crypto  Wars   -the long running debate how law-enforcement and  intelligence agencies  can adapt to the growing ubiquity of  *uncrackable encryption*.

It's actually a fight over the future of high-tech surveillance, the trust infrastructure undergirding  the global software ecosystem and how far technology companies software developers can be conscripted as unwilling suppliers of hacking tools for governments.

[Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. Maybe it doesn't. But we can't look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this lead]. And that's James Comey FBI director.

It's also the public expression of a conflict that will undoubtedly continue in secret, and that is likely already well under way.

First, the specifics of the case. The FBI wants Apple's help in unlocking the work iPhone used by Syed Farook, who the authorities believe perpetrated last year's mass killing at an office Christmas party before perishing in a shoot-out with police.

It has already obtained information about the Farook's activities from Apple's iCloud servers, where much of his data was backed up, and from Facebook. 

It's unclear whether investigators were able to recover any data from two other gadgets Farook physically destroyed before the attack.

But the most recent data from Farook's work-assigned  iPhone 5c  wasn't backed up, and the device is locked with a simple numeric pass code that's needed to decrypt the phone's drive.

Since it doesn't have to contend with a longer, stronger alphanumeric pass phrase, the FBI could easily  ''brute force''  the pass code   -churning through all the possible combinations in a matter of hours-

If only the phone weren't configured to wipe itself after too many wrong guesses, rendering the contents permanently inaccessible.

So the bureau wants Apple to develop a custom version of its iOS operating system that permits an unlimited number of rapid guesses at the pass code-

And sign it with the company's secret developer key so that it will be recognized by the device as a legitimate software update.

Considered in isolation, the request seems fairly benign. If it were merely a question of whether to unlock a single device  -even one unlikely to contain much essential evidence  -there would probably be little harm in complying.

The reason Apple CEO Tim Cook has pledged to fight a court's order to assist the bureau is that he understands the danger of the underlying precedent.

And then,  Microsoft's founder Bill Gates enumerates and brightens the illumination  :   

'[The FBI is] not asking for general thing, they are asking for a particular case..........It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get-

Information, should anybody be able to get at bank records.'

Having said that,  Four Important  pieces of context are necessary to see the trouble with the  Apple order. 

The honour and serving of the cutting edge and very latest  'Operational Research' continues. !WOW! thanks Julian Sanchez's for his brilliant and insightful  work. and...  Thank Ya all for reading and sharing.and see you on the following one.

With respectful dedication to all the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' The Students View '''

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