FBI’s claim that it requires Apple’s help to unlock iPhone is ‘bullshit,’ Snowden says
The Apple vs.FBI fight over unlocking of San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone has reached epic proportions with both sides claiming their version to be true. However not all believe that FBI doesnt have the knowhow to crack the iPhone without Apple’s help. Former NSA contractor and serial whistleblower, Edward Snowden is one of them who believes FBI has all the possible resources to hack an iPhone without Apple’s help.
Speaking at Common Cause’s ‘Blueprint for Democracy’ conference today, Edward Snowden spoke about surveillance, personal liberties and of course, the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone. “The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone,” Snowden said. “Respectfully, that’s bullshit.”
The global technological consensus is against the FBI. Why? Here's one example: https://t.co/t2JHOLK8iU #FBIvsApple https://t.co/mH1ZXOOQ1E
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 8, 2016
In the link provided by Snowden, Daniel Kahn Gillmor of the American Civil Liberties Union argues that FBI is more than capable of unlocking the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. And Gilmore isnt the only one, iOS security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski had written last week detailing the FBI’s missteps in the San Bernadino case. Most notably, the changing of the iCloud password that prevented the FBI from retrieving an unencrypted iCloud backup directly from Apple’s servers.
While Gillmor and Zdziarski may have their reasons to believe FBI is lying on the issue, many other researchers have proposed ways and means for FBI to hack into the shooter’s iPhone. But all of the methods suggested by them are either expensive and time-consuming or may brick the shooter’s iPhone leading to physically destroying the memory, and evidence.
You can listen in to what Snowden had to say at the Common Cause’s ‘Blueprint for Democracy’ conference :
