Facebook arrest foreshadows the global data encryption war

Above: WhatsApp:-Android

Image Credit: Paul Sawers / VentureBeat

On March 1, Brazilian federal police arrested Diego Dzodan for his failure to turn over decrypted WhatsApp messages for a drug investigation. Dzodan is a vice president at Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp, which offers its customers “end-to-end” encryption of their messages. Though he spent only about 24 hours in jail, Dzodan’s arrrest shows that foreign governments may take measures that are far more direct — and immediate, than those pursued by the FBI in its effort to force Apple to unlock an iPhone.

Above: Senior Facebook executive Diego Dzodan, who was recently released from a Brazilian jail due to a disputed court order demanding data from the company’s WhatsApp messaging service for a confidential drug-trafficking investigation, speaks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts March 5, 2016.

Image Credit: Reuters/Mary Schwalm

What if Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been in Brazil at the moment his company defied a court order? Might Brazilian law enforcement have jailed Zuckerberg instead of Dzodan? Sound far-fetched and alarmist? Maybe.

But how soon before employees of other technology companies find themselves ordered by local courts to unlock encrypted data from smartphones in criminal cases? What if the scene of a horrific shooting were a foreign capital and law enforcement there were stymied by iPhone data encryption? Would they swear an arrest warrant for Apple CEO Tim Cook? The international uproar would be swift, but probably divided.

In 2012, Fabio José Silva Coelho, president of Google Brazil, was arrested for videos attacking a mayoral candidate that had been posted to YouTube. In 2010, three Google employees were arrested in Italy for a video which they had never even seen. These and other recent cases reveal differing, evolving approaches to privacy and security, opposing views on whether tech companies are innocent intermediaries or bad actors, and even a clumsy understanding of technology and corporate structure. In the Dzodan case, for instance, the Brazilian court seemed to ignore that Facebook and WhatsApp operate independently. They arrested the wrong guy! Underpinning these government actions however, is a desire, or a right depending on one’s point of view, for governments to have the ability to conduct searches, both virtual and real, in pursuit of safety and security.

It’s an absolutist principle stated by President Barack Obama this weekend at the South by Southwest conference:

Before smartphones were invented, and to this day, if there is probable cause to think that you have abducted a child, are engaging in a terrorist plot, or if you’re guilty of a serious crime, law enforcement can appear at your doorstep, say they have a warrant to search your home, and rifle through your underwear to see if there’s any evidence of wrongdoing.

The New York Times reports that there is a “prolonged standoff” underway between the U.S. government and WhatsApp, and describes sealed litigation over encryption of messages much like the Dzodan case in Brazil.  Will it be the executive, judicial, or legislative branch that breaks the logjam and imposes the government’s will?

For now, the smart money favors Congress. It’s likely that legislation from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will be introduced this week. The bill may require technology companies – including Apple and WhatsApp – to comply with court ordered decryption, and specify civil penalties for refusing to do so. The proposed law, however, would stop short of imposing criminal penalties. Whether foreign governments will go along remains to be seen.

Posted by Editorial Team on 10:48 PM in Apple, Facebook, FBI, WhatsApp

This Is What Bill Gates Thinks About the Apple vs. FBI Case

After making some initial comments last month that suggested he had sided with the FBI in its case against Apple, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spoke up on the subject again as part of arecent Reddit AMA. Asked to weigh in, Gates said he hopes government and private companies can come together to discuss best practices as it relates to information-gathering.

There is a perception that exists that the government may overstep its bounds in this area. Gates said a meeting where rules are defined, or at least discussed, would help establish the appropriate "checks" to ensure information is only obtained and used for situations involving criminal activity.

"I think there needs to be a discussion about when the government should be able to gather information. What if we had never had wiretapping?" he said. "Also, the government needs to talk openly about safeguards. Right now a lot of people don't think the government has the right checks to make sure information is only used in criminal situations. So this case will be viewed as the start of a discussion.

"I think very few people take the extreme view that the government should be blind to financial and communication data but very few people think giving the government carte blanche without safeguards makes sense," he added. "A lot of countries like the UK and France are also going through this debate. For tech companies there needs to be some consistency including how governments work with each other. The sooner we modernize the laws the better."

Asked directly "What would you do if you were Apple?" Gates said he would like to see the iPhone-maker propose a plan that strikes a balance between giving government authorities the ability to obtain infomration while also having safeguards in place to ensure this technology is not abused.

"There is no avoiding this debate and they could contribute to how the balance should be struck," he said.

In February, Apple was ordered by the government to create essentially a new version of iOS that would allow authorities to tap into the iPhone of San Bernadino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. In an open letter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said what the government is asking of the company fundamentally violates the privacy, security, and trust of its customers. In a follow-up letter to consumers, Apple said it is technically possible to do what the FBI is asking. Apple refuses, however, because it is "too dangerous."

"The only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn't abused and doesn't fall into the wrong hands is to never create it," Apple said at the time.

In his own statement, FBI director James Comey said the government has no intention of creating a master key to "set loose on the land."

"The particular legal issue is actually quite narrow," he said. "The relief we seek is limited and its value increasingly obsolete because the technology continues to evolve. We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist's passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That's it. We don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land."

"Although this case is about the innocents attacked in San Bernardino, it does highlight that we have awesome new technology that creates a serious tension between two values we all treasure--privacy and safety. That tension should not be resolved by corporations that sell stuff for a living."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all sided with Cook and Apple, according to FT. Additionally, Edward Snowden said the Apple vs. FBI battle is "the most important tech case in a decade."

Also in Gates' AMA, someone asked the Microsoft veteran--who no longer has any day-to-day responsibilities at the company--to bring back the Age of Empires strategy series.

Posted by Editorial Team on 11:48 AM in Apple, Bill Gates, FBI, Microsoft, Steve Jobs, technology, Tim Cock, USA