FBI Director Warns Google and Apple "If You Don't Decrypt Phones, We'll Do It For Yo

FBI Director Warns Google and Apple "If You Don't Decrypt Phones, We'll Do It For You"

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution is crystal clear in meaning.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

FBI Director, James Comey, an Obama appointment, does not give a damn what the Constitution says.

In a recent speech, Comey warns If Apple and Google Won't Decrypt Phones, We'll Force Them To

Everyone is stoked that the latest versions of iOS and Android will (finally) encrypt all the information on your smartphone by default. Except, of course, the FBI: Today, its director spent an hour attacking the companies and the very idea of encryption, even suggesting that Congress should pass a law banning the practice of default encryption.

It's of course no secret that James Comey and the FBI hate the prospect of "going dark," the idea that law enforcement simply doesn't have the technical capability to track criminals (and the average person) because of all those goddamn apps, encryption, wifi network switching, and different carriers.

"Encryption isn’t just a technical feature; it’s a marketing pitch … it’s the equivalent of a closet that can’t be opened. A safe that can’t be cracked. And my question is, at what cost?" Comey said. "Both companies [Apple and Google] are run by good people, responding to what they perceive is a market demand. But the place they are leading us is one we shouldn’t go to without careful thought and debate."

Safe That Cannot be Cracked

A safe that cannot be cracked and a door that cannot be opened except by the rightful owner is precisely what everyone should want. It's what the Constitution explicitly states. Instead, Comey wants the right to read your papers and search your effects.

“Perhaps it’s time to suggest that the post-Snowden pendulum has swung too far in one direction—in a direction of fear and mistrust," claims Comey.

Excuse me, but what pendulum is Comey talking about?

The privacy pendulum has not budged an inch in the right direction. Not one new privacy law has been passed or even discussed.

To prove how much above the law these law-enforcement jackasses are, one Pentagon official stated "I would love to put a bullet in Snowden's head".

No one threatening to kill Snowden has been censured.

For blatant disrespect of the US Constitution, Comey ought to be fired, but there's nary a peep from Obama.

I suggest we need a cultural change from the top down starting with a president who understands and respects the Constitution.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock


http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com


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Apple and Google Cop Proofed Your Device, Now the Police State is Throwing a Temper Tantrum

By The Free Thought Project on October 19, 2014
The FBI director has slammed Apple and Google for offering their customers encryption technology that protects users’ privacy. “Deeply concerned” James Comey wants to push on Congress to “fix” laws to ensure police can still access private data.

RT.com
http://tftppull.freethoughtllc.netdn...encryption.jpg

“It’s the equivalent of a closet that can’t be opened. A safe that can’t be cracked,” Comey, speaking at the Brookings Institute in Washington DC, referred to the encryption technology calling the new service “a marketing pitch.”
“But it will have very serious consequences for law enforcement and national security agencies at all levels,” he warned.
Apple has recently presented its latest Mac OS X operating system for desktop and laptop computers, encouraging its customers to use FileVault disk encryption technology to keep their data secure. The tool would also prevent NSA or FBI from having access to phones and computers.
Google said it wanted to follow suit with its Android operating system and “encryption will be enabled by default.”
If a customer does not decline the encryption offer, his or her computer or phone will be locked.
This means that the companies will not be able to unlock a phone or a hard drive to reveal photos, documents, e-mail or recordings stored within.
“Criminals and terrorists would like nothing more than for us to miss out,” Comey said, adding that encrypted information on “a bad guy’s phone has the potential to create a black hole for law enforcement.”
“Justice may be denied because of a locked phone or an encrypted hard drive,” he said.
While law enforcements would still be able to intercept conversations, it would be impossible to access call data, contacts, photos and emails.
Comey believes that “encryption threatens to lead all of us to a very dark place,” while the companies argue that it is a necessary option that will protect customers from unlawful surveillance and private data access.

Edward Snowden’s revelations have provoked the US tech companies to find better protection for personal information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fidq3jow8bc


Comey acknowledged: “The post-Snowden pendulum has swung too far in one direction—in a direction of fear and mistrust.”
“Some believe that the FBI has these phenomenal capabilities to access any information at any time—that we can get what we want, when we want it, by flipping some sort of switch,” he said. “It may be true in the movies or on TV. It is simply not the case in real life.”
The FBI director would like to see changes made to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, “enacted 20 years ago—a lifetime in the internet age.”
Companies like Apple or Google, should be required to build lawful intercept capabilities for law enforcement, Comey says.
“We aren’t seeking to expand our authority to intercept communications,” he said. “We are struggling to keep up with changing technology and to maintain our ability to actually collect the communications we are authorized to intercept.”
CALEA only covers landline and cellphone companies, broadband services or internet phone services, which connect with traditional phones.
“We also need a regulatory or legislative fix,” Comey said, “so that all communication service providers are held to the same standard.”
Comey’s speech was not the first time he lashed out at Apple and Google for encrypting smartphones. In September, he told reporters in Washington that the encrypting technology offered by the companies, powering nearly 95 percent of the smart phones in the United States, severely hinder law enforcement operations.
Republished with permission from Russia Today

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