Updated with new embed... original cut off last 3 minutes.

There will always be foolproof software alternatives for encryption but the aim of the FBI here is clearly to be able to decrypt the lowest common denominator. They know that most criminal or even terrorist suspects will simply have the default level of encryption.

The fight here is really against Apple turning on encryption by default which is something it only started doing after the Snowden NSA revelations. If I recall right, previously Apple would unlock iPhones at will for law enforcement. The change was to protect their reputation given the pervasive assumption that US based tech companies were all in collusion with the NSA. Also they would have probably been miffed that while co-operating with them, the NSA was also hacking trans-continental cables to get access to communications more directly.

I also think that Obama had a point when he recently said at a tech conference that it is likely some ugly law will be rammed through Congress with very little debate after the next major terrorist attack, and that it will be much more draconian than anything proposed now. However, that doesn't really get past the fact there is no good software solution here. Encryption is math. You can no more build a foolproof backdoor than you can make 1+1 equal 3.

2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

*doublepromote

Double-Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Sunday, March 13th, 2016 11:37pm PDT - doublepromote requested by eric3579.

You say that, and yet the Government is still going to Apple to unlock that phone instead of just working out whatever 1+1 is.
You are correct in that nothing is fool proof, but it can still be made difficult enough for your opponents to decrypt it in a timely fashion. And while it's true that there are many dumb criminals out there who will use the default encryption settings, the smart ones will simply switch to a more secure system. And the smart ones are going to be the most likely to be committing the next 911.

@00Scud00

Apple has said it is planning to build a future firmware that cannot be flashed as the FBI has asked for in this case on an older iOS iPhone 5C (removing the time lock on password fails). That will likely be the more important legal case when it comes up - must a firmware be built to be potentially unlockable by officials to facilitate law enforcement.

From what I understand, serious terrorist organisations simply avoid using technology directly with their leaders (e.g. Osama avoided phone and email). Anyway as I said, this debate is not about that. It's about pressuring Apple to revert back to not having strong encryption enabled by default.

I'm pretty sure the FBI fucked up on this one and messed with the phone before giving it to Apple. As mentioned in the piece, Apple can give the FBI the iCloud backup data. From what I understand, the FBI started to mess with the phone and Apple can no longer force the backup of the phone.

On top of all this, according to several sources, including Edward Snowden, the FBI already have the ability to reset the number of attempts to unlock the phone. Here's an ACLU post about it:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/one-fbis-major-claims-iphone-case-fraudulent

According to the article, if there are too many attempts to unlock, the data on the phone doesn't get deleted, just the key to unlock that data. It's possible (and not all that difficult for an organisation like the FBI) to take a copy of the key ahead of time, and restore that key if they cause it to be wiped.

The money and manpower that have already gone into this case would easily cover the effort to go through this process. For those of you so inclined, this raises the question (and obvious answer) of why would the FBI go to so much bother to force apple to do it. You don't get a locked mass-murderer's phone and public support like this too often.

I've been watching for a good counter to that claim since I read it about a week ago, and haven't seen one. Anyone out there able to enlighten me?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

*blocked

This video has been flagged as having an embed that is Region Blocked to not function in certain geographical locations - declared blocked by dag.

For those that are blocked. This should work http://dai.ly/x3xmzb4

Here's a recent article to support my point that it's default encryption that's the issue:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/why-are-so-few-android-phones-encrypted-and-should-you-encrypt-yours/

You're right, the FBI did reset the iCloud backup password on the phone, which Apple claimed was the easiest way to get at the data without any new software needing to be written. Who knows if they're being honest, but the FBI now says that wouldn't have worked anyway.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3044025/apple-ios/terrorist-changed-icloud-password-disabled-auto-backups-on-his-iphone.html