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It seems like "parallel construction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction The FBI already

by ojbyrne 11y ago

It seems like "parallel construction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction The FBI already have what they need, by illegal means. Unfortunately, due to security, they're stuck.

jonathankoren 11y ago
Plausible. However, they already have admitted to NSA intercepts[0](which inconveniently show how completely ineffective mass surveillance is). What's more plausible is that this is a CYA operation. The FBI fucked up, and let San Bernardino's Health Department change the password on a health department issued device. They got locked out, and fucked up the chain of custody. [0] http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/459099478/investigators-say-san-bernardino-shooters-were-radicalized-years-before-attack http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/459099478/investigators-say-sa... [1] http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/apple-terrorists-appleid-passcode-changed-in-government-cust#.cuywX69QW http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/apple-terrorists-appl...
krylon 11y ago
I used to think, in such moments, that I was on the way to getting paranoid. These days, I more often think that maybe I should be a lot more paranoid. It has become really hard to figure out what to believe and what not. The whole affair could simply be a PR stunt. Maybe the FBI wants to create a precedent so they can get an easy access to everybody's phones where they consider it convenient. But maybe, they actually do not want that phone at all and want to create precedent where people think, "Oh look, now I know for sure the Feds cannot get at my iPhone". At times, it all seems like plots within schemes within hidden agendas.
- macns 11y ago
  > It has become really hard to figure out what to believe and what not. This. Thankfully it is also becoming obvious to more people the necessity of end to end encryption and open source software. Then - depending on the level of paranoia - we would only need to deal with the encryption tech.
  - krylon 11y ago
    Back when I was 16, playing Shadowrun, we used to say that paranoia was not a disease, but a survival strategy. There are moments when I get close to freaking out about it. I am currently reading Gravity's Rainbow, and now, for the first time, I get the paranoia in that book, I feel it. It is even less pleasant than I had imagined. And even with FLOSS and the best encryption technically possible, we have to ask ourselves, what does it lead to? In a society where the state no longer trusts the citizens, where citizens need to use military-grade encryption to keep the intelligence services from accidentally flagging them as potential terrorists because they have a gross sense of humor or a weird hobby, the very fabric that holds society together begins to erode. If we go down this road, we will become even more estranged and isolated than we are now.
    - selimthegrim 11y ago
      Foucault's Pendulum is also a fantastic book about paranoia of this sort, and how it draws people in.

by ojbyrne 11y ago

jonathankoren 11y ago

Plausible. However, they already have admitted to NSA intercepts[0](which inconveniently show how completely ineffective mass surveillance is). What's more plausible is that this is a CYA operation. The FBI fucked up, and let San Bernardino's Health Department change the password on a health department issued device. They got locked out, and fucked up the chain of custody. [0] http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/459099478/investigators-say-san-bernardino-shooters-were-radicalized-years-before-attack http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/459099478/investigators-say-sa... [1] http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/apple-terrorists-appleid-passcode-changed-in-government-cust#.cuywX69QW http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/apple-terrorists-appl...

krylon 11y ago

I used to think, in such moments, that I was on the way to getting paranoid. These days, I more often think that maybe I should be a lot more paranoid. It has become really hard to figure out what to believe and what not. The whole affair could simply be a PR stunt. Maybe the FBI wants to create a precedent so they can get an easy access to everybody's phones where they consider it convenient. But maybe, they actually do not want that phone at all and want to create precedent where people think, "Oh look, now I know for sure the Feds cannot get at my iPhone". At times, it all seems like plots within schemes within hidden agendas.

macns 11y ago
> It has become really hard to figure out what to believe and what not. This. Thankfully it is also becoming obvious to more people the necessity of end to end encryption and open source software. Then - depending on the level of paranoia - we would only need to deal with the encryption tech.
- krylon 11y ago
  Back when I was 16, playing Shadowrun, we used to say that paranoia was not a disease, but a survival strategy. There are moments when I get close to freaking out about it. I am currently reading Gravity's Rainbow, and now, for the first time, I get the paranoia in that book, I feel it. It is even less pleasant than I had imagined. And even with FLOSS and the best encryption technically possible, we have to ask ourselves, what does it lead to? In a society where the state no longer trusts the citizens, where citizens need to use military-grade encryption to keep the intelligence services from accidentally flagging them as potential terrorists because they have a gross sense of humor or a weird hobby, the very fabric that holds society together begins to erode. If we go down this road, we will become even more estranged and isolated than we are now.
  - selimthegrim 11y ago
    Foucault's Pendulum is also a fantastic book about paranoia of this sort, and how it draws people in.