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Apple Denies Knowledge of NSA's iPhone Spying Program

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Apr 12, 2001
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Yesterday, it was reported that the National Security Agency was able to capture live data from compromised iPhones including live camera, GPS, cell tower location and more.

Apple has now issued a statement denying that it ever cooperated with the NSA, according to AllThingsD.
Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply about our customers' privacy and security. Our team is continuously working to make our products even more secure, and we make it easy for customers to keep their software up to date with the latest advancements. Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple's industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers. We will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who's behind them.
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According to yesterday's report, the NSA could install special software onto iPhones as part of a program called DROPOUTJEEP, that provides significant access to user data and other relevant information. The leaked documents describing the program were from 2008, so it is unknown how effective the NSA's current iPhone efforts are.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Denies Knowledge of NSA's iPhone Spying Program
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/31/apple-denies-knowledge-of-nsas-iphone-spying-program/
Honestly getting sick of all the lying. Clearly one side is lying. I somehow doubt the leaked documents are lies.

I love Apple but come on...
 
If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
 
MrSmith said:
If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
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Why don't you post your bank account and medical records here on the forum?

If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?
 
impulse462 said:
Honestly getting sick of all the lying. Clearly one side is lying. I somehow doubt the leaked documents are lies.

I love Apple but come on...
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The leaked documents aren't contradicting Apple -- why is it difficult to believe that the NSA was able to install spyware on iPhones that they had physical possession of without Apple's knowledge?

We've known about jailbreaking, which also requires physical possession of the phone, how is this any different? Do you think Apple was engaged in some deep dark conspiracy to leave the bugs that allowed jailbreaking?
 
If it is true it is never in Apple's good interest to tell the truth. They'll never say it is happening with the knowledge.
 
impulse462 said:
Honestly getting sick of all the lying. Clearly one side is lying. I somehow doubt the leaked documents are lies.

I love Apple but come on...
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From yesterday's article: Appelbaum said in a talk at the Chaos Communication Congress this weekend that he believes Apple assisted the NSA in its spying efforts though he cannot prove it and he hopes Apple will clarify what assistance they do or do not give the NSA.
 
MrSmith said:
If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
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If you've got nothing to hide, you don't have a life. There are plenty of things in my life that are just nobody's ********** business.
 
MrSmith said:
If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
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I don't think that's the point. The thing is my is stuff is mine and is not of anyones concern. That's why we have a thing called privacy and big fat is USA trying to **** on us.
 
MrSmith said:
If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
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Because when governments start doing corrupt things like hacking your phone, they also start doing things like planting child porn on the computers of people who have opposing political views.

You really want lying corrupt gangsters running the police and military unchecked?
 
hansonjohn590 said:
Why don't you post your bank account and medical records here on the forum?

If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?


That being said, Apple is undoubtedly under a gag order of some kind.
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1. Everybody has something to hide. Usually the "if you've got nothing to hide..." claptrap is dished out by politicians, who have usually more to hide than the average person. Including things like former British home secretary Jaqui Smith charging the husband's porn consumption under expenses.

2. We know there are certain things that Apple and other companies are not allowed to tell, but there is currently no way to order Apple or other companies to lie.

neilmacd said:
Apple just called out the NSA as malicious hackers....
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Excellent observation.
 
hansonjohn590 said:
Why don't you post your bank account and medical records here on the forum?

If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?
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I'm pretty sure hiding your bank account from trolls on an online forum is a little different, given the opportunity for theft/ID theft.

He's talking about a little less sensitive information that doesn't give someone the opportunity to steal from you.

I don't defend the NSAs actions, they are scum and apparently the only entity allowed to break our laws without having to answer for them. But at the same time, I'm not really losing any sleep over it, because frankly there's nothing really interesting for them to find out about me, I'm just some schmuck living an honest life.

Is it creepy and totally appalling? Yes. Is it the same as handing bank account information to irresponsible strangers on the internet who would steal from you in a heartbeat? No, not really. I doubt that's the NSAs purpose of spying.
 
There are lots of zero-day exploits floating out there. I'm not sure how many of them are on iOS, but really, if you were a jailbreaker and were offered $5m for your exploit it would be hard to turn down.

You don't need Apple's help to break open an iPhone. You would need Apple to not patch your vulnerability if it came to their attention.
 
MacRumors said:
Apple has now issued a statement denying that it ever cooperated with the NSA, according to AllThingsD.
Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products
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Click to expand...

This is another example of a tech company using weasel words. Apple says they never worked with the NSA, but that doesn't mean that they never worked with an NSA contractor.

If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? This day and age, what's wrong with eyes and ears?
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Some things deserve privacy. You think it's OK for people to find out names of rape victims? That just happened recently:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmir...lcoholism-and-erectile-dysfunction-sufferers/
 
The NSA is looking out for terrorist activity. Good luck to them. If my mundane emails go through them, why should I care? It'll only bore them. What have you people got to hide that's so important to world security?
 
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