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> It's plausible to see a scenario where Apple says "You know what? Fuck it, we're based in Ireland now." Maybe, but I think you're putting the cart before the

> It's plausible to see a scenario where Apple says "You know what? Fuck it, we're based in Ireland now." Maybe, but I think you're putting the cart before the horse. We're not at that stage right now. Right now we can turn the tables on the FBI and demand they contribute back to our own ability to secure ourselves. It's not too tough to describe the issue to the general public. The FBI would ordinarily help businesses identify security vulnerabilities in their products, such as a flaw in a bank vault, because it makes the public more safe to enable the bank to secure itself. Law enforcement regularly recommends certain bike locks, car systems (note their recent notification about remote exploits [1]), etc. over others. In this case, due to disagreement about how to keep the public safe, the FBI is refusing to cooperate with the general public who own iPhones. [1] http://www.ic3.gov/media/2016/160317.aspx http://www.ic3.gov/media/2016/160317.aspx

exelius 11y ago
> the FBI is refusing to cooperate with the general public who own iPhones. Which I think is a perfectly rational thing for the FBI to do in the absence of a law stating that they must do so. I don't think it's the best thing for democracy, but if I were a senior-level FBI official, I'm trying to give my organization as many tools as I can get to do their job. He's a man with a small, narrowly defined scope: investigate crimes as effectively as possible. It's not his job to think of the repurcussions. Which is why our current decade-long legislative deadlock is fucking killing us. The world today is nearly unrecognizable from the one in 2006 - and in the lack of leadership by Congress, the executive branch (which includes the FBI and most other non-military law enforcement agencies) has to step in and take control. Really, the problem is that a lack of leadership from congress has created a power vacuum that Obama has been publicly very reluctant to fill. But the gap exists, and people in the executive branch under Obama have had no such qualms expanding their power into areas that Congress just hasn't addressed because they're too buy trying to defund Obamacare or ban abortions. Our legislative process at work, folks.
- studentrob 11y ago
  The people are the most powerful part of the legislative process in a democracy. They, and you, may have forgotten that by not voting and attempting to justify the positions taken by public officials who are sworn to protect the constitution. > Which I think is a perfectly rational thing for the FBI to do in the absence of a law stating that they must do so. I don't think it's the best thing for democracy, but... I've seen a lot of this "understanding" in the news and online. It is not how democracy works. We have the power, not them. We can literally vote them out of their jobs.

exelius 11y ago

> the FBI is refusing to cooperate with the general public who own iPhones. Which I think is a perfectly rational thing for the FBI to do in the absence of a law stating that they must do so. I don't think it's the best thing for democracy, but if I were a senior-level FBI official, I'm trying to give my organization as many tools as I can get to do their job. He's a man with a small, narrowly defined scope: investigate crimes as effectively as possible. It's not his job to think of the repurcussions. Which is why our current decade-long legislative deadlock is fucking killing us. The world today is nearly unrecognizable from the one in 2006 - and in the lack of leadership by Congress, the executive branch (which includes the FBI and most other non-military law enforcement agencies) has to step in and take control. Really, the problem is that a lack of leadership from congress has created a power vacuum that Obama has been publicly very reluctant to fill. But the gap exists, and people in the executive branch under Obama have had no such qualms expanding their power into areas that Congress just hasn't addressed because they're too buy trying to defund Obamacare or ban abortions. Our legislative process at work, folks.

studentrob 11y ago
The people are the most powerful part of the legislative process in a democracy. They, and you, may have forgotten that by not voting and attempting to justify the positions taken by public officials who are sworn to protect the constitution. > Which I think is a perfectly rational thing for the FBI to do in the absence of a law stating that they must do so. I don't think it's the best thing for democracy, but... I've seen a lot of this "understanding" in the news and online. It is not how democracy works. We have the power, not them. We can literally vote them out of their jobs.