Tag: san bernardino
Apple Lawyer, FBI Director Face Off In Congress On iPhone Encryption

Apple Lawyer, FBI Director Face Off In Congress On iPhone Encryption

By Julia Harte and Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel on Tuesday that a final court ruling forcing Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to give the FBI data from an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters would be “potentially precedential” in other cases where the agency might request similar cooperation from technology companies.

The remarks were a slight change to Comey’s statement last week that ordering Apple to unlock the phone was “unlikely to be a trailblazer” for setting a precedent for other cases.

Tuesday’s testimony from Comey and remarks before the same U.S. House Judiciary Committee by Apple’s general counsel, Bruce Sewell, brought to Congress a public fight between Apple and the government over the dueling interests of privacy and security that has so far only been heard in the courts.

On Feb. 16, a federal court in California instructed Apple to write special software to unlock the iPhone 5c used by gunman Rizwan Farook, an order the company is contesting.

Sewell and Comey’s remarks also clarified some areas where the two sides fundamentally disagree. Comey said the tool created for Farook’s iPhone would not work on other models. But Sewell said the tool that Apple was being asked to create would work on any iPhone.

“This is not about the San Bernardino case. This is about the safety and security of every iPhone that is in use today,” Sewell said.

Committee members seized on Comey’s statement that the case could set a legal precedent allowing the agency access to any encrypted device.

“Given… that Congress has explicitly denied you that authority so far, can you appreciate our frustration that this case appears to be little more than an end run around this committee?” asked the panel’s ranking minority member, Michigan Representative John Conyers.

Comey responded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was not asking to expand the government’s surveillance authority, but rather to maintain its ability to obtain electronic information under legal authorities that Congress has already provided.

He also acknowledged that it was a “mistake” for the FBI to have asked San Bernardino County officials to reset the phone’s cloud storage account after it was seized. The decision prevented the device, which was owned by the county, Farook’s employer, from backing up information that the FBI could have read.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others last Dec. 2 before they were themselves killed in a shootout with police. The government has said the attack was inspired by Islamist militants and the FBI wants to read the phone’s data to investigate any links with militant groups.

Comey told a congressional panel last Thursday that the phone could have “locator services” that would help the agency fill in a gap in its knowledge of the route the couple traveled as they fled.

“We’re missing 19 minutes before they were finally killed by law enforcement,” Comey said. “The answer to that might be on the device.”

A federal judge handed Apple a victory in another phone unlocking case in Brooklyn on Monday, ruling that he did not have the legal authority to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone that was seized during a drug investigation.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Tuesday at the RSA Cybersecurity conference in San Francisco that she was “disappointed” by the Brooklyn ruling, and rebuffed Apple’s claim that its Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination was being violated.

The Justice Department is “not alleging that [Apple has] done anything wrong,” Lynch said, but is treating the company as a third party holding data valuable to an ongoing investigation.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance testified in support of the FBI on Tuesday, arguing that default device encryption “severely harms” criminal prosecutions at the state level, including in cases in his district involving at least 175 iPhones.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards and Julia Harte; Editing by Bill Rigby and Grant McCool)

Photo: Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Apple Inc., watches as FBI Director James Comey testifies during a House Judiciary hearing on “The Encryption Tightrope: Balancing Americans’ Security and Privacy” on Capitol Hill in Washington March 1, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Exclusive: San Bernardino Victims To Oppose Apple On iPhone Encryption

Exclusive: San Bernardino Victims To Oppose Apple On iPhone Encryption

By Dan Levine

(Reuters) – Some victims of the San Bernardino attack will file a legal brief in support of the U.S. government’s attempt to force Apple Inc to unlock the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters, a lawyer representing the victims said on Sunday.

Stephen Larson, a former federal judge who is now in private practice, told Reuters that the victims he represents have an interest in the information which goes beyond the Justice Department’s criminal investigation.

“They were targeted by terrorists, and they need to know why, how this could happen,” Larson said.

Larson said he was contacted a week ago by the Justice Department and local prosecutors about representing the victims, prior to the dispute becoming public. He said he will file an amicus brief in court by early March.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the matter on Sunday.

Larson declined to say how many victims he represents. Fourteen people died and 22 others were wounded in the shooting attack by a married couple who were inspired by Islamic State militants and died in a gun battle with police.

Entry into the fray by victims gives the federal government a powerful ally in its fight against Apple, which has cast itself as trying to protect public privacy from overreach by the federal government.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment. In a letter to customers last week, Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive, said: “We mourn the loss of life and want justice for all those whose lives were affected,” saying that the company has “worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said in a letter released on Sunday night that the agency’s request wasn’t about setting legal precedent, but rather seeking justice for the victims and investigating other possible threats.

“Fourteen people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and bodies ruined. We owe them a thorough and professional investigation under law. That’s what this is,” Comey wrote.

The FBI is seeking the tech company’s help to access shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone by disabling some of its passcode protections. The company so far has pushed back, arguing that such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security.

The clash between Apple and the Justice Department has driven straight to the heart of a long-running debate over how much law enforcement and intelligence officials should be able to monitor digital communications.

The Justice Department won an order in a Riverside, California federal court on Tuesday against Apple, without the company present in court. Apple is scheduled to file its first legal arguments on Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, who served as a federal prosecutor before being appointed to the bench, has set a hearing on the issue for next month.

Larson once presided over cases in Riverside, and Pym argued cases in Larson’s courtroom several times as a prosecutor while Larson was a judge, he said. Larson returned to private practice in 2009, saying at the time that a judge’s salary was not enough to provide for his seven children.

He said he is representing the San Bernardino victims for free.

(Reporting by Dan Levine in Oakland, California; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Sue Horton and Mary Milliken)

Photo: Apple iPhones are displayed at an Apple store in Beijing, China, February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Late Night Roundup: The Donald Vs. The Pontiff

Late Night Roundup: The Donald Vs. The Pontiff

Stephen Colbert took on the bizarre campaign development of a political feud between Donald Trump and Pope Francis. “It’s like Jesus said: Blessed are the poor — unless they said something bad about me, then screw ’em.”

“Now I want to try to broker a peace between these two men,” Colbert added. “Mr. Trump, Mr. Pope — I believe that’s his formal name — is it possible that you guys are fighting because you have so much in common? After all, both think you’re infallible; and you both sit on golden thrones; and you both wear very silly things on your heads.”

Stephen also sat down with a very special guest: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who talked about his new venture into incisive coverage of the presidential campaign.

James Corden said of the Trump-Pope feud: “I know what you’re thinking: There go the Pope’s chances of being on the next season of Celebrity Apprentice.”

Seth Meyers examined the dispute between Apple and the FBI, which is invoking a law from 1789 to try to pressure Apple into developing software to break into the iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorists: “That’s right, the FBI is using a 1789 law to get into an iPhone — 1789, a time when people only used BlackBerries.”

Islamic State Magazine Praises Couple Behind San Bernardino Terrorist Attack

Islamic State Magazine Praises Couple Behind San Bernardino Terrorist Attack

By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

An Islamic State propaganda magazine praised the couple responsible for the San Bernardino terrorist attack as martyrs for killing 14 people, and suggested that the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 was inspired — but not directed — by the organization.

An essay that opens the most recent issue of the English-language magazine, Dabiq, said the assailants, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, answered the call to “terrorize crusaders in their very strongholds.” Both were killed in a gun battle with police.

Dabiq, which also serves as a recruitment tool for Islamic State (also known as ISIS), emphasized that Malik was willing to carry out an attack, unlike many men. Her participation made the attack unique, the essay said.

“How much more deserving of Allah’s blessing are a husband and wife who march out together to fight the crusaders in defense of the Khilafah!” the article said, using the Arabic term for caliphate, or a state established and guided by Islamic law.

The two attackers “did not suffice with embarking upon the noble path of jihad alone,” the essay said. Farook was praised as a “noble brother” while Malik was referred to as “his blessed wife.”

Images of San Bernardino after the attack and Farook’s bullet-riddled body accompanied the article.

The killings were described as righteous in the magazine, which didn’t mention that those shot were Farook’s co-workers at the San Bernardino County Health Department who were attending a holiday party.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said the magazine “seems to confirm a previous ISIS radio report that these were inspired attacks, not coordinated by ISIS.”

FBI officials have said that the couple acted on their own, not at the behest of another organization.

“This is part of (a) two-part strategy; ISIS would prefer to orchestrate massive attacks against the United States. But they are more than willing to praise an attack which they inspired that killed more than a dozen people,” Levin said.

He noted that Islamic State uses a “very derogatory term” to describe non-Muslims who are victims of attacks.

“They are a death cult,” Levin said.

The 56-page online magazine also praised the couple for putting aside their lives, including family members and other obligations.

“Not only did they leave behind their comfortable lifestyle, but prior to the operation they left their baby daughter in the care of others knowing that they likely wouldn’t see her again in this life,” the essay said.

A picture of the white crib in the couple’s Redlands home was also included in the magazine’s layout, along with a photo of a wounded man on a stretcher and law enforcement vehicles outside the Inland Regional Center, where the attack occurred.

After completing the attack, which left 22 people wounded, Malik reaffirmed her allegiance to the leader of Islamic State in an online post, the two-page essay said. Malik’s pledge was posted online shortly before the couple was killed in the shootout with police.

The essay ended by expressing hope that the San Bernardino attack would “awaken” Muslims across the United States, Europe and Australia.

Levin said the article clearly asked potential homegrown violent terrorists to heed the call to carry out attacks.

The issue also confirmed that the masked militant nicknamed “Jihadi John,” who appeared in several videos depicting the beheadings of Western hostages, was killed by a drone strike in Raqqah, Syria.

U.S. military officials had said in November that the Army was “reasonably certain” that the militant, identified as Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a drone strike, the Associated Press reported.

©2016 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: An undated photograph of a man described as Abdelhamid Abaaoud that was published in the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq. REUTERS/Social Media Website via Reuters TV