Today saw the deadline for amicus briefs in the heated iPhone security trial, and several companies and interested parties took the opportunity to make their case before the court.
The most significant brief came from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Evernote, and nine other major firms, which emphasized the severe harm that would come from court-initiated mandate as opposed to a more considered legislative action. “[The signed companies] pride themselves on transparency with the public, particularly with respect to sensitive issues such as disclosing users’ data,” the decision reads. “A boundless All Writs Act could cripple these efforts.”
Twitter, Reddit, Github, Ebay, and CloudFlare also submitted a brief with 12 other startup companies, emphasizing the values of privacy and transparency in online services. “If the government is able to compel companies to break their own security measures,” the companies write, “the users of those companies will necessarily lose confidence that their data is being handled in a secure, open manner.”
Good. Virtually the entire technology industry is siding with Apple on this one.
This is awesome, but I really wish it was more than just a savvy business decision for all the companies mentioned (and I’m including Apple in that sentiment).
Still, I’ll take it; it’s better than the alternative.
Well, you know you’re fucked up when http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-innovation-idUSKCN0W…
Remember me what said Eisenower about the military–industrial complex on Jan, 17 1961 ? Are people completely numb ?
Being part of their established rules of conduct [AT WAR TIMES] for centuries. But always hard to account for the ‘easy’ ethos of business DOMESTIC sectors toward unlimited collaboration [when They shouldn’t].
They could have restored peace around the world for the time being, instead to fuel fires, thus giving them more legitimacy. At least US military industry is working at full scale on taxpayer dollars. Remind me how much the last 20 years of wars and conflicts costed to the us and the world ?
But that’s exactly what they do. After all, we’re on peacekeeping missions all over the world. At least, that’s the case if you believe our media though I’d say the results of said missions don’t quite back up the stories.
Sarcasm aside though, I doubt we’ll ever have peace around the world for the time being. There are just too many varied cultures, with too many religious beliefs (many of which advocate the slaughter of nonbelievers) to make that happen. I suspect that, in order to have lasting world peace, we’d have to eliminate blind devotion to beliefs of any kind and teach people to really think for themselves. That, of course, undermines the power of governments and so they have a vested interest in keeping divisions strong and peace an ideal, rather than a reality.
Yeah, “Religion is the opium of the people” said another one… Strange how things repeat/do not evolve much after decades, if not centuries.
At absolute value…
But other States [or States within States] have spend a lot more, in relative terms.
If not for shared intelligence, common interests and diplomacy. Then US economy had been collapsed long time ago, due to militarism.
By the contrary, being a savvy business decision make it worthy. If it was pure ideology, then they could be dismissed as socialists, naive or even numbnuts. Now is capitalistic ‘save American jobs’
I get that, but what happens when one day it makes business sense to completely destroy consumer privacy? The pendulum can swing both ways.
we are used to that, it happens almost all the time
Then it would happen. Ideology does not money make. On the other hand, competitors would eventually rise and it would then make good business sense to protect customers again. I, like you, wish we’d learn something from these cycles throughout history, but as a general rule the population ignores the lessons we could be learning.
WhatsApp ?
Owned by Facebook.
They’ll ‘milk’ money out of it, the way their former owners didn’t dare to do.
Here we have a bunch of Corporations asking not to be disturbed in their quotidian exploit of huge amounts of Consumer data and behavior.
Stinking the most is that Captain Renoir attitude:
” I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! ”
The quote linking is not mine, got and lost through a ‘The Verge’ article link jumping.
Only thing Post-Snowden era has brought to them is the acknowledgment that they are not collecting all the ‘Taxes’ they should from their Host States.
No, don’t believe the so soft -or uninformed- amicus brief fillings of consumers’ stake holders.
ATT sounds really interested in finding ‘common ground’ with other Parts at Stake.
Amazon participated in the the amicus brief arguing for encryption, but then proceeded to strip encryption from its own devices…
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/amazon-removes-device-encryption-f…
I’m so confused.
At some past log, said that FireOS had CLASS. Meant FirefoxOS.
And now they’re walking it back…
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/amazon-will-restore-fire-os-…
Blackberry are noticably missing from the list. And before anyone bangs on about their current market share, they are the current leaders in Military and Government usage.
Rather than joining the group with the others, Beard simply re-iterated their age old stanceat MWC
“We almost left Pakistan recently because we were asked to provide a back door which we did not do,”. “On the other hand, we comply with legal requests where it makes sense, and we’ve always done that.”
Feels the most pragmatic approch to me, but gets you less interviews on CNN.
Funny, how law makes Google, Microsoft and Apple declare themselves “Amici”.
So the whole thing is changing into a popularity contest where for example Microsoft is defending the user privacy!
Had no idea it was going to go global.
The fallen down to Ostracysm? And most of their families? Not to contradict the wishes of a majority?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism
Can’t remember who brought this into the conversation.
Maybe through
https://www.aeon.co
Answering yourself ? Dude, that’s pretty convenient
My mind has been from always damaged as to think long thoughts. This is a ‘work-around’
I’m OK with it. But acknowledge is annoying. Sorry about that.
Of Admiral Michael Rogers. Should I give mi ‘home grade’ advice? Never mind.
Here is my ‘State grade’ advice: Turn back to in house hard, firm & software tools. [Firmware updates is something that has to go the way of the Raphus cucullatus]. If needed, you go and update all of the Hardware. Critical infrastructure security is not be outsourced. Select the simplest, more direct and resilient projects able to comply with the task. You will find security in diversity and company at the spectrum of solutions. Premium those able to withstand the hardest and more minutia audits.
And test, test, test. Not as if wanting those test to succeed. Bust truly wishing, and asking, that those tests -your tests-, FAIL
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/01/nsa_boss_three_security_nig…
You courier software updates, don’t send it through the ‘cloud’.
Use fully audit-able, write once, archival grade optical media. Use single key, DoD approved crypto.
Disk at once, fully padded, from the center of the physical medium to the border. Not commercial, but military grade redundancy, or replication.
In house developed ‘pre-digesters’, could be integrated within cabled keyboards. Hardware only. [no firm, no soft]. Output devices only.
Those devices would have to have security safeguard and clearance.
No idea still of how to present ‘post-digesters’.
Never, never trust on ‘magic cauldrons’.