IOPList.Org

STASI AMERIKA
The Not So Secret Police
A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER AND CEO -

I have real problems with the FBI writ handed to Apple. Sure, like others in my industry I am concerned about security, product integrity, privacy and even being served a similar writ. Yet, I have much deeper concerns.

My first problem is my own product design. I give the user the ability to make, hold and manage their own keys using samples of light. This basically means I am out of the loop in that I cannot access their encrypted data. It also means that if they lose their keys - I can't help them. The very quantum nature of light removes the ability to predict the user’s keys. Sorry, it's just God's little joke on us all. I consider this feature to be a design well suited for the future. 

However, if the FBI serves me a writ similar to the Apple action I can only shrug and tell them that it's technically impossible. I cannot hack backwards into time/space with a magic unicorn and pull the keys out of my USB port. The only way to re-create the key is to be an invisible angel, taking exactly the same sample of light at the same time. My problem is trying to convince a skeptical court or FBI agent that Stephen Hawkings is right. This task alone might put me behind bars for days if not years.

My second problem is the inept and incompetent FBI. The Iphone at the center of all the legal trouble is owned by San Bernardino County. They were told by the FBI to reset the password, thus denying access to the phone itself. This move ranks as one of the dumbest law enforcement actions in recent history, placing the FBI in the same class as the Keystone Kops. In a single stroke, they managed to fry the San Bernardino investigation like a 5 year old with a blow-torch running through a room full of gasoline.

However, the biggest problem is with the writ served on Apple by the FBI. This particular action by the Obama administration is very very dangerous. The writ was presented to Apple in the form of "do my bidding or die" demand. The point being that not only is this same writ presentable to any other encryption maker; it is also presentable in altered forms to other industries or even individuals. 

Now having consulted some great legal thinkers on this matter - it is very clear that this writ could be altered to "conscript" an individual to become an informant or face jail time. This takes me back to my cold war days and the horror stories of Stasi (Secret Police) tactics used in communist East Germany, forcing people into becoming informants. Back then, facing the Berlin Wall, I swore that such things were evil and should be destroyed. Now the wall is long gone but here I am watching my own government try to implement the same tactics that East Germany used.

The Apple writ can be used to compel companies to report on customers. There is already legal precedent in the bank $10,000 rule. If you deposit more than $10,000 you must also submit detailed paper-work through your bank, which then passes it on to the US Government. If you try to avoid this reporting by making two deposits under $10,000 you can be prosecuted. This rule was established to monitor and prevent criminal money-laundering but it has also been used to harass politically unfavorable businesses such as gun dealers.

Imagine if you will an America filled with invisible army of informants - the FEDEX delivery person, the UBER driver, the checkout clerk at Wal-Mart. The FBI could certainly fight terrorism with such an army but it will also terrorize America with the power to crush anyone anywhere who makes an unflattering remark. Complain about bad service and go home to face an FBI agent with a warrant to search your home for explosives.

Therein lies my point about the Apple writ. The government can, upon political whim, unleash a criminal action that will ruin a person or even jail them. It happened to Ladar Levison. He founded a company called Lavabit that allowed users to exchange encrypted emails. Lavabit had about 410,000 users and offered free and paid accounts. In July 2013 the federal government obtained a search warrant demanding that Lavabit give up the keys to its service affecting all Lavabit users. Levison decided to close business instead of complying with the US government demands.

However, the Lavabit story does not end here. The FBI objected to Levison closing his business and told him that if he did - he could be prosecuted. Levison said that he could be arrested for closing the site instead of releasing the information, and it was reported that the federal prosecutor's office sent Levison's lawyer an e-mail to that effect. Worse still, they threatened him to be silent under national security laws so he would not tell anyone about this.

The Apple writ based itself on the foundation that the "technology" of encryption is being used to over-ride the rule of law. Of course, the FBI has been dealing with encryption since its creation as a national law enforcement agency - although the encryption they faced in the 1930s was mainly from foreign governments. Today, that technology has bubbled down to your cell phone, your credit card, your email and even controlling your front door. While the FBI cannot simply tell Cuba or North Korea to stop using encryption they are saying it to American citizens. 

Keep in mind - those of you who consider themselves to be "progressives" - all this is happening under the Obama administration not the Bush administration. The current writ was submitted by Attorney General Lynch and was openly approved by the White House, which issued a statement of support. The administration that declared itself for the little guy has thrown all of us under the bus. So there is very little political capital to be made here in right versus left arguments. This is a right versus wrong problem.

Now to my friends on the right who consider this administration to be hostile. You may consider the Apple writ to be a matter of national security to fight terrorism. Imagine a similar writ sent to all major firearms manufacturers declaring that they must install digital fire arm locks in all weapons so they cannot be used against law enforcement. This hypothetical writ is very similar to the Apple writ - based on public safety, technology and the law. It would, in effect, give the government total control on personal firearms and force most of the gun makers out of business. Still think this is a national security issue?

Simply banning encryption and praying that ISIS cannot do math is a foolish and downright stupid idea. The FBI and the Obama administration have done nothing here but make enemies out of US citizens.

 America was attacked by terrorists and in response the FBI attacked a major US corporation. Just who does this protect?


Encryption, as I demonstrated in the opening of this piece, is a matter of math and science. The march of technology cannot be compelled to disappear as those who tried to silence Galileo found out. You cannot make 2 plus 2 equal 7 no matter how many laws you want to pass. God is not going to change the universe to suit FBI Director Comey. It is we humans who must adapt to the universe not the other way around.

One if by Land, Two if By Sea,

CHARLES R. SMITH
CEO FOUNDER OF SOFTWAR INC.

A very good article, Linville.

>Keep in mind - those of you who consider themselves to be "progressives" - all this is happening under the Obama administration not the Bush administration. The current writ was submitted by Attorney General Lynch and was openly approved by the White House, which issued a statement of support.

Yep, the bum in the white house tries to hide behind his flunkies who are merely doing his bidding. In this case he figures there is a lot of public support for his overreach. If things go wrong the flunkies take the blame and resign.

big brother society wont stop until the elites have full control of everything us sheeple do - it used to be conspiracy types, alt right (and left) political types that used to think that now its got to the stage every man and his dog and anyone on the fence realizes whats going on.

liberty or security. know which one id rather have.

Which brings up the oft repeated quote that those who will trade liberty for the illusion of security end up with neither. Unfortunately not everyone sees what is going on. They don't like what is happening but the media and govt tells them all is well and do what you are told.

They are trying to do away with cash now. If all transactions have to be digital then govt has total control, can charge negative interest rates and no one gets away from taxes. If rubio or hillbilly gets in we will have more of the same.

Right on, the mark of the beast. According to alex jones it started with credit card rfid chips, soon they'll be implanted under the skin. I never even had a bank account until my job forced everyone to have direct deposit.

i remember my mother telling me about the church sermon she heard that explained all this coming, way back when bar-codes became law!