
FBI serves warrant on Apple to access Senator's iCloud data - clairity
https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/14/fbi-issues-warrant-to-apple-to-gain-senators-icloud-data
======
azinman2
> “Four years after he co-wrote a bill meant to make companies like Apple
> provide confidential data about customers under investigation, Senate
> Intelligence Committee Chairman Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) has become the
> subject of an investigation.”

Oh, the delicious irony!

~~~
vulcan01
Is this the key? Will lawmakers start realising that anti-privacy laws will
eventually be used against them? Will they start supporting privacy laws?

One can only hope...

~~~
_bxg1
Probably they'll start carving out bespoke protections for themselves

~~~
ViViDboarder
Yes. Like with the Patriot act. They are attempting now to add additional
oversight if used to investigate an elected official or candidate.

~~~
DenisM
Which exceptions for US senators were written into the patriot act?

~~~
ta17711771
> attempting now

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sneak
This serves as an important reminder: Apple's terrible decisions about
security and encryption in iCloud (for backups (which contain your messages)
and photos and notes) means that Apple can always access your messages via
iCloud backup, and thus can always decrypt them for the government (whether
the government has probable cause and a warrant, like with a court order, or
when they don't and are just fishing, like FISA/702's illegal spying). They
use 702 often enough that there's the PRISM program that permits them direct
download access to Apple's (and others') servers.

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-
exclusiv...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-
exclusive/exclusive-apple-dropped-plan-for-encrypting-backups-after-fbi-
complained-sources-idUSKBN1ZK1CT)

You should not be trusting iMessage or iCloud encryption to keep your data
safe or private.

Always use Signal! (And also tell your friends, associates, and relatives;
Apple's marketing hype around privacy is a lot louder than these reminders can
ever be.)

~~~
nemothekid
AFAIK, Apple claims that iMessage is E2E encrypted. Meaning as long as you
don’t use iCloud backups you are “safe”

~~~
sneak
Yes, but other important parts of iCloud are not, like all your Photos (which
almost always includes EXIF GPS data, which can approximate a track log),
Notes, Safari history and bookmarks, Contacts, Find My (locations for both
devices and people), iCloud Drive files, reminders, voice memos, and wallet
passes (which can include flight or ticket information, and loyalty cards, et
c). If you don't have 2FA turned on (most people), your Health data (such as
timestamped heart rate history) is available to Apple (and by extension the
FBI/military/et c) as well.

[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT202303)

If you're using iCloud (which happens automatically), they can see your nudes
and read your private notes.

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intopieces
It's my understanding that iCloud data will be handed over, because it's not
encrypted. Is that correct?

~~~
henriquez
iCloud data is "encrypted" but Apple has the keys and can decrypt it. Apple
has been wishy-washy and has actually backed away from announced plans to
implement E2E encryption for iCloud with the DOJ whining about wanting
backdoors every couple of years.

Burr's previous support of encryption bans is ironic here; maybe now he wishes
he hadn't made it politically impossible for Apple to protect his own data:
[https://www.wired.com/2016/04/senates-draft-encryption-
bill-...](https://www.wired.com/2016/04/senates-draft-encryption-bill-privacy-
nightmare/)

~~~
azinman2
I don’t think this is accurate at all.

Edit: You can find details here: [https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT202303](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303)

~~~
jdillaaa
That's pretty accurate. Some stuff is encrypted with the device passcode like
Health data and Keychain data. Around iOS 9 [1], Apple implemented some
functionality to encrypt backups through a similar mechanism. This never
panned out.

1) [https://wccftech.com/ios-93-prompt-passcode-restoring-
encryp...](https://wccftech.com/ios-93-prompt-passcode-restoring-encrypted-
icloud-backup/)

Edit: as others have pointed out, looks like this never happened because the
FBI said no.

~~~
SanchoPanda
An alternate explanation is that this never occurred because if people lose
their passwords they would be completely out of luck.

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hartator
Finally a FBI warrant for Apple data that we can get behind.

~~~
alfiedotwtf
That's the thin end of the wedge happening. Once you're ok with this, then
they scope creep.

~~~
dimator
Wait what? I wish people would make up their minds on this. _They have gotten
a warrant._ That's how law enforcement is supposed to work.

Being against _warrantless_ tapping is not the same thing.

~~~
irfango
There are a lot of mixed up discussions going on here. Some people are
generally anti-law enforcement, some are against warrantless wiretapping,
others are concerned about backdoors from a technical perspective. I'm with
you though I'm not sure being against warrants is a sensible position.

~~~
clairity
most folks are ok with warrants if used judiciously and sparingly when the
evidence is compelling and the potential (societal) good overwhelmingly
outweighs the (individual) harms. but we've been sliding down that slippery
slope for decades now, and it's unclear that many (most?) warrants meet any
sensible criteria, instead treading into paranoid, corrupt, and vindictive
territories.

like most things, it's not a black & white issue.

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jb775
Is this technically considered insider trading? It's not like he found out a
specific company was about to be acquired or something. He's probably going to
argue it was publicly available information.

~~~
shbooms
_...[Burr claimed] that he "relied solely on public news reports" when making
a decision on the trades._

quote of him from another article:

[https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-apple-warrant-richard-burr-
iclo...](https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-apple-warrant-richard-burr-icloud-
stocks-1503931)

------
lgleason
How about Loefflers as well.

~~~
nicwolff
She isn't the chair of the Intelligence Committee who was about to release a
fourth report affirming the findings of the Mueller report but can now be
replaced by Mitch McConnell with a Trump loyalist.

~~~
TAForObvReasons
100% this. Loeffler is team Trump. According to
[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-
score/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/) she is the
only sitting senator that 100% voted in line with Trump's positions

~~~
dralley
FWIW, while your assertion is still true, it's most likely due primarily to
the fact that she only assumed office in January.

