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An interesting twist would be for Apple to encourage someone to sue Apple for having a hackable phone and then having Apple supply a legal request to require th

An interesting twist would be for Apple to encourage someone to sue Apple for having a hackable phone and then having Apple supply a legal request to require the FBI to disclose the hack in order to "defend" the lawsuit. Not sure this would work but you need a legal reason to force disclosure.

Mtinie 11y ago
Let's find out. As an iPhone user, I presume I have standing and could argue some form of damages. Now, is there a lawyer out there interested in discussing whether there is really any merit to bringing a suit forward? Would / could this be a class action, or in this case, is it better to seek an individual out come? Hypothetically speaking, of course, until there are proven grounds to stand on.
- giaour 11y ago
  IANAL, but you would probably need to show that you were materially harmed by your iPhone's now-weakened security. Maybe someone could step forward and show that their new iPhone got hacked and that they lost money because of said hack.
- ethbro 11y ago
  Legally, why couldn't you sue the government directly? Ianal, but isn't the US government (via the FBI's court proceedings) publicly stating they have access to / have used a vulnerability actionable in some way? If this were done in private that would be one thing, but they've now gone on the record as saying a usable vulnerability exists.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
marcoperaza 11y ago
It's perfectly legal to use vulnerabilities on machines that you own, publicly advertise it, and refuse to disclose the details. It's a free country. Funny that the infosec community traditionally supports this and opposes mandatory disclosure laws. If you had to disclose any vulnerabilities that you find, you'd never get paid for it. There wouldn't even be bug bounties, since those exist because of the vulnerability market. The fact that it's the government also adds in the great deference that the courts give the government on national security issues. And it would be with good reason in this case. Vulnerabilities are used to craft attacks against our country's enemies (see Stuxnet).

Mtinie 11y ago

Let's find out. As an iPhone user, I presume I have standing and could argue some form of damages. Now, is there a lawyer out there interested in discussing whether there is really any merit to bringing a suit forward? Would / could this be a class action, or in this case, is it better to seek an individual out come? Hypothetically speaking, of course, until there are proven grounds to stand on.

giaour 11y ago
IANAL, but you would probably need to show that you were materially harmed by your iPhone's now-weakened security. Maybe someone could step forward and show that their new iPhone got hacked and that they lost money because of said hack.
ethbro 11y ago
Legally, why couldn't you sue the government directly? Ianal, but isn't the US government (via the FBI's court proceedings) publicly stating they have access to / have used a vulnerability actionable in some way? If this were done in private that would be one thing, but they've now gone on the record as saying a usable vulnerability exists.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

marcoperaza 11y ago

It's perfectly legal to use vulnerabilities on machines that you own, publicly advertise it, and refuse to disclose the details. It's a free country. Funny that the infosec community traditionally supports this and opposes mandatory disclosure laws. If you had to disclose any vulnerabilities that you find, you'd never get paid for it. There wouldn't even be bug bounties, since those exist because of the vulnerability market. The fact that it's the government also adds in the great deference that the courts give the government on national security issues. And it would be with good reason in this case. Vulnerabilities are used to craft attacks against our country's enemies (see Stuxnet).