Tim Cook protests that Apple is being asked to create “a new version of the iPhone operating system.” This glib talking point distracts attention from the reality that there’s essentially a backdoor on every new iPhone that ships around the world: the ability to load and execute modified firmware without user intervention.
Ostensibly software patches were intended to fix bugs. But they can just as easily install code that compromises sensitive data. I repeat: without user intervention. Apple isn’t alone in this regard. Has anyone noticed that the auto-update feature deployed with certain versions of Windows 10 is impossible to turn off using existing user controls?
Update features, it would seem, are a bulls-eye for spies. And rightly so because they represent a novel way to quietly execute malicious software. This past September the Washington Post published a leaked memo from the White House which proposed that intelligence agencies leverage “provider-enabled remote access to encrypted devices through current update procedures.” Yep, the same update procedures that are marketed as helping to keep users safe. And it would appear that the spies are making progress. There’s news from Bloomberg of a secret memo that tasked spymasters with estimating the budgetary requirements needed to develop “encryption workarounds.”
You can read the rest @
http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/02/apples-iphone-the-backdoor-is-already-there/
From the beginning, I have believed the Apple-FBI struggle to be a PR stunt. Even if it is not, the government eventually is going to get its way.
Update - Here is an analogy:
When a court issues a warrant, it apparently gives the police authority to break down your door if necessary to enter and search your home. Does it give them the authority to compel a safecracker (or the company which sold you the safe) to help them break in? I don't know the answer, but I think it's "yes".
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