Apple vs US Govt poll

[dead0man]

enjoy!  (feel free to add your own mental scare quotes around freedom and or safety if you want)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Generally Apple, tho I wonder why it would be that his phone would be recording by default stuff the feds would want.

[SteveRogers]

Apple. Let's be clear, Apple is not refusing to comply with valid search warrants. By all accounts they've turned over the relevant information in their possession when asked. What they are refusing to do is be deputized into service by the federal government to invent software that does not currently exist to allow the government to break into this phone.

[Virginiá]

Apple.

The government's position in the "encryption fight" as a whole is more or less that they want encryption that they can always easily decrypt, but that everyone else can't. That doesn't exist, and will not exist unless they have magical powers stuffed down their pants. Banning certain types of encryption, weakening it, or otherwise trying to build backdoors into algorithms would be a catastrophic mistake for little benefit (relevant to the damage it would cause).

Old, stupid politicians should be ashamed of themselves for pushing this. It's bad enough they have no idea how technology works, but now they want to obliterate everyone's security for little gains.

This whole issue is symbolic of how #*@(&ing greedy the government has gotten in taking away our rights for their own selfish benefit.

[Mike Thick]

Apple.

The government's position in the "encryption fight" as a whole is more or less that they want encryption that they can always easily decrypt, but that everyone else can't. That doesn't exist, and will not exist unless they have magical powers stuffed down their pants. Banning certain types of encryption, weakening it, or otherwise trying to build backdoors into algorithms would be a catastrophic mistake for little benefit (relevant to the damage it would cause).

Old, stupid politicians should be ashamed of themselves for pushing this. It's bad enough they have no idea how technology works, but now they want to obliterate everyone's security for little gains.

This whole issue is symbolic of how #*@(&ing greedy the government has gotten in taking away our rights for their own selfish benefit.

This perfectly lays out my thoughts on the issue. It's reflective of a troubling lack of understanding of technology on the part of the politicians who would have Apple take this action.

[Sir Mohamed]

Government. Of course the authorities should have access to the data of terrorists. And I, as a private and law abiding citizen, have nothing to hide. At least nothing that is threatening national security or any lives.

[SteveRogers]

Government. Of course the authorities should have access to the data of terrorists. And I, as a private and law abiding citizen, have nothing to hide. At least nothing that is threatening national security or any lives.

Should the government be able to force Apple to build them new decryption technology in pursuit of that data? Technology that does not currently exist and that would render everyone's iphone vulnerable to infiltration whether from the government or from more nefarious parties?That's really what's at stake here.

[Sir Mohamed]

Government. Of course the authorities should have access to the data of terrorists. And I, as a private and law abiding citizen, have nothing to hide. At least nothing that is threatening national security or any lives.

Should the government be able to force Apple to build them new decryption technology in pursuit of that data? Technology that does not currently exist and that would render everyone's iphone vulnerable to infiltration whether from the government or from more nefarious parties?That's really what's at stake here.

Yes, but make strong legal provisions, that it is only used in such cases and canot be abused.

[Virginiá]

Yes, but make strong legal provisions, that it is only used in such cases and canot be abused.

So you're basically willing to allow foreign governments, criminal organizations and other individuals to access everything you own, decrypt any online SSL connections, and so on? Because there is no such thing as a backdoor only the government can access. Either the encryption is weakened and vulnerable to everyone, or it isn't weakened and vulnerable to no one. There is no middle ground.

One of the few reasons the Internet is as viable and useful right now as it is, is because of strong encryption.

[dead0man]

Yes, but make strong legal provisions, that it is only used in such cases and canot be abused.

So you're basically willing to allow foreign governments, criminal organizations and other individuals to access everything you own, decrypt any online SSL connections, and so on? Because there is no such thing as a backdoor only the government can access. Either the encryption is weakened and vulnerable to everyone, or it isn't weakened and vulnerable to no one. There is no middle ground.

One of the few reasons the Internet is as viable and useful right now as it is, is because of strong encryption.

While I 100% agree with you on your main point, that last bit is a bit of a stretch.  Yes, it would be less useful with no (or weak) encryption, but it would still be a valuable tool.  Most of the stuff we do on the internet now doesn't need (and isn't) encrypted.

[SteveRogers]

Government. Of course the authorities should have access to the data of terrorists. And I, as a private and law abiding citizen, have nothing to hide. At least nothing that is threatening national security or any lives.

Should the government be able to force Apple to build them new decryption technology in pursuit of that data? Technology that does not currently exist and that would render everyone's iphone vulnerable to infiltration whether from the government or from more nefarious parties?That's really what's at stake here.

Yes, but make strong legal provisions, that it is only used in such cases and canot be abused.

You're missing the point though. Whether the government would abuse this new power is an important but secondary concern. Once that backdoor exists, other people besides the government can exploit it. You can't put that genie back in the bottle. The tool is too dangerous to exist, so Apple shouldn't be forced to build it.

[Virginiá]

Most of the stuff we do on the internet now doesn't need (and isn't) encrypted.

E-commerce (online shopping) and backend user data that is encrypted by companies is one of the primary concerns here. If that's left vulnerable, shopping online will become far, far more risky and fraud would skyrocket. Breaches of customer/user data from companies would also become a much bigger factor (and it's already a massive problem!). There are a lot of other things that would be affected, but I'm not going to go into all of it here.

Browsing would be fine, but the risk of fraud and the huge loss of privacy (or the little we still have) would be huge as now everyone has access.

In a sick way, I almost wish the government would do this so that things would completely fall apart for them security-wise, and the backlash would be monumental. Then these old, clueless politicians would maybe realize that they have no business in trying to regulate encryption. They take for granted what it has provided.

[This account no longer in use.]

I side with Apple. There's far too much risk if they were to create a backdoor into an iPhone.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Hillary is absolutely terrible on encryption. She wants a backdoor in encryption. That would be great for thieves to steal your credit card and identity.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/hillary-clinton-wants-manhattan-like-project-to-break-encryption/

[P123]

Government, screw apple hiding terrorists info. Truely DISGUSTING.

[Intell]

Feds (Anti-Big Business Capitalists, hiding important data.)

[CatoMinor]

Government. Of course the authorities should have access to the data of terrorists. And I, as a private and law abiding citizen, have nothing to hide. At least nothing that is threatening national security or any lives.

Should the government be able to force Apple to build them new decryption technology in pursuit of that data? Technology that does not currently exist and that would render everyone's iphone vulnerable to infiltration whether from the government or from more nefarious parties?That's really what's at stake here.

Yes, but make strong legal provisions, that it is only used in such cases and canot be abused.

Because the Feds are so great at restraining themselves with the law.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

US Government easily!  We have no liberties if we don't have our security (the main reason that I don't support Cruz is that he opposes the Patriot Act).  If you aren't hiding some big bad secret, you have nothing to worry about!!

[Virginiá]

US Government easily!  We have no liberties if we don't have our security (the main reason that I don't support Cruz is that he opposes the Patriot Act).  If you aren't hiding some big bad secret, you have nothing to worry about!!

Yes, that would be valid if the US government didn't significantly abuse their power already. In a country where the govt can't really be trusted like this, there has to be balance.

And 'if you have nothing to hide' argument is quite possibly the worst argument there is. That's like a great prelude to every possible dystopian-government future I can think of. For a country that prizes freedom, the freedom to not be spied on when we aren't doing anything wrong should rate highly.

[Leinad]

This thread has been comforting to find how many Atlas Forum users side with liberty and the constitution, but alarming the faith that some of us have in government. And I fear the general populace is more likely to side with Big Brother than a younger-skewing group such as us.

Also, Virginia's been spot-on in this thread.

[dead0man]

Dubya's Homeland Security head agrees with Apple and freedom

[Angel of Death]

John Oliver to the rescue (again).