{"id":25557,"date":"2016-03-24T11:14:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T00:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=25557"},"modified":"2016-03-30T00:46:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T13:46:28","slug":"apple-versus-the-state-public-posturing-and-rhetoric-on-encryption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/apple-versus-the-state-public-posturing-and-rhetoric-on-encryption\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple versus the State: public posturing and rhetoric on encryption"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n\u2018In 30 years of practice I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen a legal brief that was more intended to smear the other side with false accusations and innuendo, and less intended to focus on the real merits of the case.\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While that quote might resemble the fallout of an acrimonious divorce, it was in fact from Bruce Sewell, Apple\u2019s lead attorney, in<\/span> response to federal prosecutors\u2019<\/span><\/a> formal position in the ongoing San Bernardino encryption case.<\/span><\/p>\n

It serves to illustrate just how hostile the war of words between Apple executives and American officials (and supporters of those camps) has become over the last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

The past two weeks has seen the big guns enter the fray once more.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a tech conference in Texas, President Barack Obama gave fairly balanced commentary on the situation, while ultimately coming down on the side of law enforcement. He cautioned that it would be unwise to take an \u2018absolutist\u2019 view on the topic, and went on to<\/span> state<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018So if your argument is strong encryption no matter what, and we can and should create black boxes, that I think does not strike the kind of balance that we have lived with for two hundred, three hundred years and it’s fetishizing our phones above every other value. And that can\u2019t be the right answer.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018absolutist\u2019 view is certainly one that Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken. Taking advantage of the always-hyped launch of new Apple products, Cook began his presentation with<\/span> a call for debate<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy\u2026 We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government. But we believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers and we owe it to our country\u2026 This is an issue that impacts all of us and we will not shrink from this responsibility.\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While there are clearly some altruistic intentions behind Apple\u2019s challenge, Cook failed to mention that Apple has a share price to protect, and\u2014as I explained in my<\/span> previous piece on this matter<\/span><\/a>\u2014encryption has become a selling point for tech customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The iPhone has become far and away the best-selling product in Apple\u2019s line-up, accounting for<\/span> 62.54% of the company\u2019s total revenue in the final quarter of 2015<\/span><\/a>. In the context of a saturated US smart phone market and a Chinese economic slowdown, there are expectations that iPhone sales will contract this year. Apple faces a sizable pressure to protect its historically incredible market performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, its share price at the beginning of February 2016 was at its<\/span> lowest in two years<\/span><\/a>. However, it appears that the company\u2019s position on encryption isn\u2019t doing their business any harm. All publicity is good publicity after all, and Apple\u2019s share price has<\/span> risen some US$10 since February<\/span><\/a> this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

A number of ex-senior US officials, including the former Director of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, and former White House cyber czar, Richard Clarke, have been speaking out against the US government on the encryption issue. Chertoff recently argued that developing software to weaken the iPhone\u2019s existing protections would be akin to \u2018<\/span>creating a biological weapon<\/span><\/a>\u2019 and would be entirely counter-productive to broader national security, potentially enabling a wider cross-section of criminals and governments with access. Clarke took this one step further, stating that \u2018<\/span>encryption and privacy are larger issues than fighting terrorism<\/span><\/a>.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a clear difference of opinion within the US government on this issue. While the FBI and Department of Justice have dug their heels in, the Departments of Commerce and State and the White House\u2019s Office of Science and Technology Policy<\/span> have all argued<\/span><\/a> that encryption is integral to protecting Amercian secrets, technologies and industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most significantly, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter<\/span> told<\/span><\/a> the RSA conference in March:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Just to cut to the chase, I\u2019m not a believer in back doors or a single technical approach\u2026 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s realistic. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s technically accurate.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly the Defense Department is concerned about sustaining<\/span> it\u2019s hard-won relationships<\/span><\/a> with Silicon Valley. The rapturous applause that greeted Carter\u2019s intervention will have put his mind at ease for now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest twist in the case occurred this week on the day before the court hearing was scheduled to take place. The<\/span> FBI asked the court to postpone<\/span><\/a> the hearing claiming that an \u2018outside party\u2019 had demonstrated a feasible way to crack the iPhone in question. It\u2019s a fascinating development and there should naturally be questions about why the offer came at this late stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Clarke claimed that the FBI<\/span> wasn\u2019t seeking help from the likes of the NSA<\/span><\/a> as \u2018they just want the precedent [of court-ordered access]\u2019 to be established by the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no clear consensus on the encryption issue, and it can be expected to continue to split opinion and drive high emotion on all sides of the debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of whether the court case takes place or not, the fall-out from recent events will take its toll. The last of these three pieces will look at some of the potential consequences of the encryption debate we\u2019re currently having.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018In 30 years of practice I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen a legal brief that was more intended to smear the other side with false accusations and innuendo, and less intended to focus on the real …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":25562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1500,391,1570,1038,31],"class_list":["post-25557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-apple","tag-cyber","tag-encryption","tag-fbi","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nApple versus the State: public posturing and rhetoric on encryption | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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