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U.S. government: iPhone users are not the owners of iOS, so Apple is required to install the “bugs”

This week Apple made a statement that mobile devices c iOS 8 and above it is impossible to hack and access a password-protected confidential information will not be able to get even the employees of the Corporation. The U.S. Department of justice was not satisfied with this answer. The Department stated that Apple should be required to provide access to encrypted data on the iPhone, because consumers receive a license for the operating system iOS and not buy it.

Recently, Brooklyn district judge James Orenstein asked the Corporation assistance in the same investigation. Apple was required to produce breaking of the confiscated iPhone. Why it took investigators did not specify but one can assume that in this way they hoped to get evidence against the suspect.

“Apple develops, manufactures and sells [phones] that are subject to obtaining a search warrant, said the representatives of the government magistrate James Orenstein. – But it is a matter of interaction with the Apple phone after the sale. Apple creates and manages software on your phone and this software does not provide the ability to execute a search warrant”.

Apple quotes several arguments against the enforcement of such regulations. The manual claims that it can’t hack into iPhones with the latest iOS versions, because to decrypt the data on the new devices, you must enter a key code known only to the owner of the smartphone.

According to Apple, almost 90% of iPhone installed iOS eighth or later, which makes the hacking impossible. Data protection was strengthened after it became known about the mass wiretapping by the national security Agency of the USA.

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Apple is able to receive data with devices that are running older versions of the software. However, in Cupertino refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies, stating that “the attempt to retrieve the data in the absence of a clear legal right to such action may undermine the trust established between Apple and its customers and damage brand reputation”.

This explanation is also not satisfied with the U.S. Department of justice: “the Government does not accept this argument, noting that Apple did not give specific examples of how law enforcement undermines the credibility of the company or harms the reputation of the brand.” The Department stressed that users of smartphone do not own the operating system, but only receives a license to use it. So Apple should add in iOS for data access by the government.

As noted by Boing Boing, if the government could prove right, this will open a dangerous precedent. Virtually every device now is powered by software, which is licensed and sold to the end user. Each company may be required to decrypt the data at the government’s request, since the OS does not belong to the buyer of the device, and the software developer.

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