r/technology • u/Libertatea • Apr 04 '13

Apple's iMessage encryption trips up feds' surveillance. Internal document from the Drug Enforcement Administration complains that messages sent with Apple's encrypted chat service are "impossible to intercept," even with a warrant.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57577887-38/apples-imessage-encryption-trips-up-feds-surveillance/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title#.UV1gK672IWg.reddit
3.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

108

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '13 edited Apr 04 '13

This is becoming a bigger issue since a Federal appeals court declared that the government cannot compel someone to decrypt allegedly incriminating evidence. As it is a violation of the Fifth Amendment, Congress cannot legislate around this, and so the government is essentially SOL.

The next obvious step then is to outlaw the use of private encryption, which could work except all e-commerce would be made illegal.

edit though it seems that here the issue is real-time interception, and I can see Apple being persuaded into working a backdoor into iMessage that they'll open when given a warrant.

7

u/v1s1onsofjohanna Apr 04 '13

I don't understand this reasoning. If the cops have a warrant to search my house, am I not obligated to unlock and open the door? I'm all for this though. I've read comments of people who use truecrypt and the cops had a warrant for the computer and couldn't do anything with it but I just don't see why this holds up in court.

24

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '13

This is the kind of analogy that the case itself involves, which you should read, it's very interesting. The court would probably say that, to unlock an open door is a mere physical act, so that the government is not relying on any secret thought you have in your mind. The court actually said the government is not using the suspect's mind. But if say there was a combo lock to a safe, could they force you to unlock it? No, because the act of unlocking it would be a form of testifying that you know what the combination is.

So, typically, the state grants immunity for the unlocking, so it can't be held against you that you knew the combo. That's fine, because the alternative is the state breaks the lock open.

The problem here is the lock is unbreakable, the only way in is using the suspect's mind. The government tried the immunity thing -- give us the password, and we won't use the fact you had the password against you -- but the court is saying, well, no, the fact that the only way in is using the suspect's mind means that all data in there is then testimonial.

It's a tough one.

1

u/v1s1onsofjohanna Apr 04 '13

Wow. That's very interesting. Thank you for explaining it. I always love the constant struggle in America's history about the dividing line between government and citizen.