The terrorist’s iPhone: The Government is right

The terrorist’s iPhone: The Government is right

by | Feb 28, 2016 | AI World Society Summit

(29th Feb 2016) Robert Whitcomb , Managing Editor of the Boston Global Forum shared his view about The Terrorist’s iPhone

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The U.S. government has the much stronger argument in its battle with Apple over getting access to information in the iPhone of one of the two San Bernardino terrorists.

The fact is, as Microsoft founder Bill Gates told the Financial Times “This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information.’’

“They are not asking for some general thing; they are asking for a particular case.”

“It is no different than the question of should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records” to investigate a crime, Mr. Gates added

And the government’s case rests on centuries of law holding that “no item — not a home, not a file cabinet and not a smartphone — lies beyond the reach of a judicial search warrant” in investigating crimes, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance noted.

There exists no “right of privacy” to withhold evidence of a crime. The idea that the cellphone is a privileged device that must be off-limits to law enforcement is absurd.

The fact is that a federal court is not telling Apple to create a “backdoor’’ that puts all users in danger of being hacked by identity thieves. It has told Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation get into a single iPhone in order to obtain information that might prevent other people from being murdered by ISIS-related terrorists.

We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” FBI Director James Mr Comey said.

A federal judge ordered Apple to create software to let the FBI try every password possible without the phone’s data disappearing. Apple chief executive Tim Cook asserts that such a “backdoor” tool could be used on other phones. But Apple could safely create and control the software to unlock a specific device when the
government obtains a warrant detailing compelling circumstances. It’s difficult to think of circumstances more compelling than terrorism.

Law enforcement must have the tools to keep up with criminals, who increasingly use such tools as encryption, Bitcoin currency and disappearing messages. In this case, Apple, rather than focusing on fears that the publicity connected with letting the U.S. government get into a single cellphone might hurt its gigantic profits, should focus on saving the lives of potential future terrorism victims.

Apple should consider the public welfare and hand over to the government access to the information that phone.
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The U.S. government has the much stronger argument in its battle with Apple over getting access to information in the iPhone of one of the two San Bernardino terrorists.

The fact is, as Microsoft founder Bill Gates told the Financial Times, “This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information.’’

“They are not asking for some general thing; they are asking for a particular case.”

“It is no different than the question of should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records” to investigate a crime, Mr. Gates added

And the government’s case rests on centuries of law holding that “no item — not a home, not a file cabinet and not a smartphone — lies beyond the reach of a judicial search warrant” in investigating crimes, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance noted.

There exists no “right of privacy” to withhold evidence of a crime. The idea that the cellphone is a privileged device that must be off-limits to law enforcement is absurd.

The fact is that a federal court is not telling Apple to create a “backdoor’’ that puts all users in danger of being hacked by identity thieves. It has told Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation get into a single iPhone in order to obtain information that might prevent other people from being murdered by ISIS-related terrorists.

We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” FBI Director James Mr Comey said.

A federal judge ordered Apple to create software to let the FBI try every password possible without the phone’s data disappearing. Apple chief executive Tim Cook asserts that such a “backdoor” tool could be used on other phones. But Apple could safely create and control the software to unlock a specific device when the
government obtains a warrant detailing compelling circumstances. It’s difficult to think of circumstances more compelling than terrorism.

Law enforcement must have the tools to keep up with criminals, who increasingly use such tools as encryption, Bitcoin currency and disappearing messages. In this case, Apple, rather than focusing on fears that the publicity connected with letting the U.S. government get into a single cellphone might hurt its gigantic profits, should focus on saving the lives of potential future terrorism victims.

Apple should consider the public welfare and hand over to the government access to the information that phone.

Catarina Caldeira da Silva

Catarina Caldeira da Silva

by | Apr 16, 2016 | News

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Catarina Caldeira da Silva was born in Lisbon, Portugal under Salazar’s regime. This dictated her parents’ choice to enroll her and her three brothers in the German School of Lisbon, thus giving them the opportunity to be in contact with different cultures and mindsets since kindergarten. This experience has proven to be of paramount importance in Ms. Caldeira da Silva’s career choices and her perception of the world. She has a degree in history from the Nova University in Lisbon and an M.A. in European Studies from the European College in Bruges, Belgium. She has dedicated her professional life to the European project and joined the European Parliament as early as 1986, immediately after Portugal’s accession to the European Communities.

In Parliament, Ms. Caldeira da Silva developed policy skills in multiple areas, in particular development and cooperation, foreign affairs and human rights. Subsequently, she was appointed chief of staff to the economic policy cluster, which included policy areas as diverse as the internal market, transport, environment, climate and health, and economic and monetary policy. She has also been in charge of a series of enquiry and special committees such as racism, xenophobia, and the 2008 economic and financial crisis. In 2010, she was appointed special advisor and was responsible for inter-institutional relations, in particular the political dialogue between the EPP leadership, the President of the European Commission, and several other commissioner cabinets. In August 2012, she was offered a unique opportunity to become the first EPP senior staffer based in Washington, D.C., with the task of fostering political relations between legislators across the pond. It has proven to be one of the most challenging as well as rewarding professional opportunities she has come across. She also had the great honor of holding for one year a fellowship at CTR at Johns Hopkins as well as visiting scholar with SCAR at George Mason University.

Back in Brussels since October 2014, Ms. Caldeira da Silva was invited to pursue the task she started in Washington, D.C. She continues to dedicate full attention to transatlantic relations and developing at many different levels all opportunities for a fruitful dialogue amongst legislators, stakeholders, congress staffers, and academia. She is deeply convinced that a deepened, well informed dialogue is instrumental to peace and stability around the world. Based upon shared history and common values, this partnership is unique and deserves renovated commitment and attention so that it is vigorously embraced by future generations.