DA Cyrus Vance Throws Encrypted Phones On Table And Hands In Air As Criminals Take Over New York City
from the admits-law-enforcement-will-never-solve-crimes-again dept
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance can't stop griping about phone encryption. He's basically a one-issue politician at this point. His creaky platform is the coming criminal apocalypse, currently being ushered in by smartphone manufacturers. The only person complaining more about phone encryption is FBI Director James Comey, but in Comey's defense, his jurisdiction is the whole of the United States. Vance has only his district, but it encompasses the NYPD -- a police force that often seems to view itself as the pinnacle of American policing.
So, with the battle between the FBI and Apple underway in a California court, Vance is back at it, attempting to grab the national spotlight from his position on the opposite coast.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said at a news conference that investigators cannot access 175 Apple devices sitting in his cybercrime lab because of encryption embedded in the company’s latest operating systems.Tough luck, that. But considering the information inside is encrypted, it's a bit bold to declare that whatever's contained there that the NYPD hasn't seen would be useful to investigators. The assumption seems to be that if it's encrypted and on a device seized by law enforcement, then it must be composed of smoking guns and signed confessions in PDF format.
“They’re warrant proof,” he said, adding that the inability to peer inside the devices was especially problematic because so much evidence once stored in file cabinets, on paper, and in vaults, is now only on criminals’ smartphones.
Even if we buy the assumption that the phones contain massive amounts of useful data, there are other pathways to this data. It doesn't have to run through the smartphone provider. And the efforts made to lock out cops (as it's always presented) also keeps criminals from accessing the personal data and communications of others. So, there's that.
Vance claims investigations are being hindered by encryption. Supposedly, the NYPD is sitting on 175 uncracked devices -- some of which were displayed during the press conference. But other than this number being cited, very little was offered in the way of further detail. Instead, Vance photo-opped a pile of supposedly inaccessible devices and let the press draw its own conclusions. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was on hand to back up Vance's assertions with the sort of jailhouse hearsay Detective Vincent Hanna would find patently ridiculous.
Bratton said criminals are increasingly aware of the protection offered by their devices. He said a prisoner in a city jail was recently recorded saying in a phone call that iPhone encryption was “another gift from God.”.Devastating.
It's a shame the Vance-Bratton loop doesn't seem to be interested in hearing from other law enforcement representatives about whether the government should be forcing companies out of the encryption business or a locked-up phone should be treated as an investigative brick wall.
Here's PoliceOne's editor-in-chief, Doug Wyllie, pointing out what's wrong with the FBI's efforts -- and every assertion made by other law enforcement officials who believe private companies should be forced to destroy the protective efforts they've built into their devices.
The Associated Press said in its report, “The dispute places Apple, one of the world’s most respected companies, on the side of protecting the digital privacy of an accused Islamic terrorist.”Furthermore, the FBI may be using terrorism as leverage to secure Apple's assistance, but its insistence that key info is held on a dead suspect's phone suggests it's reading too much into things it can't actually see, as well as short-circuiting its own investigative processes.
Well, no. Apple is protecting its product for the hundreds of millions who possess Apple iOS devices, and it is protecting its own corporate interests. The company’s market position could be jeopardized by taking away one of the elements to its product that is most appealing to consumers (privacy and encryption) and thereby put the shareholders in financial jeopardy. As CEO, it is Cook’s responsibility to resist that.
The fact is that the probability that a terrorist would keep sensitive information about his plot/plans on his government-issued mobile phone is pretty preposterous. In the unlikely event that there is information relevant to the investigation on that device, the possibility exists that it resides elsewhere as well, such as with mobile carrier network records, or another person’s phone who spoke or exchanged messages with Farook. Consequently, the FBI should:This is coming from the editor of a site that's so much of a law enforcement echo chamber that you're not even allowed to see comments unless you can prove you're a law enforcement officer or official.
Vigorously pursue all of the other avenues of investigation.
Work to develop better decryption capabilities for future investigations.
Withdraw its petition to the court to force a private company to damage its products.
When another closed, pro-law enforcement loop can see both the forest and the trees, it clearly exposes Vance's efforts here as little more than grandstanding. What Vance and Bratton want -- along with James Comey -- is for every impediment to investigations to be removed, either by courts or by legislators. Because they've chosen to focus on encryption, they're ignoring scalable fences while wringing their hands over the padlock on the gate.
And, once more it must be pointed out that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies solved plenty of crimes before smartphones -- much less smartphone encryption -- became the norm. They claim everything that used to reside in file cabinets and bedroom drawers now resides in encrypted devices. While many people's "lives" are contained in their phones, their lives encompass far more than their Companion Rectangles™. They still have computers and laptops that aren't encrypted, third party social media services/email providers, as well as friends, relatives and co-conspirators who may be able to offer more insight or access. But all people like Vance see is iNcriminating Device 5S standing between them and justice, even when multiple paths around it still exist.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: crime, cyrus vance, encryption, going dark, law enforcement, new york city, nyc, nypd
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The ones trafficking dope on the street or the ones removing liberty, killing citizens, or incarcerating them for lengthy periods of time over inane & misconstrued laws.
Society is thoroughly broken which is why government has become broken.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Crunching the hypothetical numbers
Let's run some extremely generous hypothetical numbers shall we?
Assume for the moment that every single one of those devices contains not only the 'smoking gun' evidence for one crime, but five each.
175 devices x 5 crimes each = 875 unsolved crimes caused by encryption.
Assume further that the evidence on the phones are the only pieces of evidence with regards to the cases, such that without the ability to unlock those devices the crimes will not be solved, and those responsible will not be found guilty.
Assume that because they were never found guilty, each criminal will go on to commit at least ten more crimes each over the course of the next five years.
175 criminals x 10 crimes = 1,750 additional crimes that could have been prevented were it not for the original encryption.
Add the two numbers together and encryption has allowed 2,625 crimes to occur over the course of five years, the majority of which could have been prevented.
Huge right?
Now, keeping in mind that people check their email on their respective devices, they check their bank accounts, pay bills, do any number of things involving highly sensitive, and more to the point highly valuable data, such that anyone who gains access to it, whether physically or otherwise gains access to a treasure trove of data...
Without reliable encryption and security to protect that data, does anyone think the number of crimes involving electronic devices would be less than 2,625 over the course of five years?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Crunching the hypothetical numbers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Crunching the hypothetical numbers
http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/indexcrimes/County-totals.pdf
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
how does this relate to information on previous media
Ideally, we need an encryption marketplace that is independent of the hardware makers and with multiple choices. Even moreso, encryption modules should be capable of being piped in series, much like guitar pedals on a rack, or maybe like the arrangement of Enigma wheels. On one hand, that would make divulging the particular encryption selection even more of a Fifth Amendment issue. However, my main concern is keeping information that criminals might find useful out of the hands of criminals, especially when it comes to terrorists. And, that's why I believe that a security apparatus that actually cares about security would be driving our society to mandate secure encryption.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So....
Is the Manhattan DA an elected official? If so, he needs to be kicked to the curb the next round of elections. IF the people of Manhattan are smart enough to do so.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: So....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LETS COUNT!!
2..with all this, Why cant you find corporate Money and HOW they are hiding it..and get taxes owed?
You really think that a SMART phone/tablet/device is a secure way to hold data..EVEN many Dumb phones can hold Data chips..
City and FBI are all ready monitoring our data..going to and from the Telco, most data is NOT HARD encrypted.. Unless they are running REAL encryption on both ends..the data is there, in the Air..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"He said a prisoner in a city jail was recently recorded saying in a phone call that iPhone encryption was “another gift from God.”."
Sure hope that wasn't a call between the prisoner and his lawyer.
Perhaps they need to get a new DA, one who is capable of independent thought. The current one seems way to hung up on getting into the phones to be effective in his job. Ignoring all other possibilities so one can have a press conference pushing a pet peeve raises questions about the abilities of the office.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/cop-stole-arrested-womens-nude-photos-as-game-authorities/
I suspect the real driving force behind this is to protect the cops from citizens who collect video evidence of their crimes. Imagine all the evidence the police are going to be able to more easily destroy if they had unrestricted access to every phone.
http://www.copblock.org/135305/man-says-cops-tried-to-delete-video-showing-woman-knocked-unconscious /
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Isnt that Boston? And its not something to be proud of unless you are a cop.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Old School
Without knowing the proper book, the proper edition, hell even the proper language, THERE IS NO WAY TO BREAK THIS CODE. If the caught perpetrator dies, they will never find out which book. Since those tree based books don't have meta-data, law enforcement is even further out of touch. It seems that this move will just force those who wish private to do a little more work and it will leave law enforcement even more in the dark.
These codes could be sent from anonymous emailers to a long long list of recipients of which only one knows what to do with it as part of a spam message. Most people, and if lucky web based email providers would move it to the spam folder automatically. But that one person who knows what to expect and what to do with it...
It is difficult to fathom the stupidity of our 'intelligence' agencies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And even with a fucked up mindset like "we're just going to go after the low hanging fruit" then it still won't work. Congrats, you just took away all the privacy from John Q. Public on his iPhone, but Ahmed Q. Terrorist will still find strong crypto to use across all his devices.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
WTF is on these phones?!?!?!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: WTF is on these phones?!?!?!
There is no court case, the perpetrator is dead. They have all the meta-data so they know who, when, why, where and how of all contacts and the actions of the culprit. What is left to know? What was actually said in some emails? To what end?
They want the backdoor, and this is their test case to see if they can get it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: WTF is on these phones?!?!?!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who Do You Think Will Win?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fishing expedition
Because if the computing device is delivered and a change of possesion occurs, that becomes implicit or explicit acceptance of the court order.
It will also allow another attack: they can claim spoilation of evidence. Which is also almost certain to happen even *before* the case makes it to SCOTUS. Which is a certainty.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hillary wants back door
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FBI director according to his own interview lets ISIS fighters back into America but complains about terrorism
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DROPOUTJEEP----nsa-spyware-gives-agency-full-access-to-the-iphone-report
http://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-spyware-gives-agency-full-access-to-the-iphone-report/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
From your evil point of view
From our Point of view
"They're illegal search proof"
Oh, and go fuck yourself , for thinking its your right to interfere in other peoples lives that is not your own or someone whose given their explicit consent......you evil, evil bastards
[ link to this | view in chronology ]