from Hacker News

Bill Gates Says Apple Should Unlock the iPhone

by phesse14 on 2/23/16, 8:09 AM with 100 comments

  • by acqq on 2/23/16, 9:02 AM

    In Tim Cook's words, from his latest letter to the employees:

    "Some advocates of the government’s order want us to roll back data protections to iOS 7, which we released in September 2013. Starting with iOS 8, we began encrypting data in a way that not even the iPhone itself can read without the user’s passcode, so if it is lost or stolen, our personal data, conversations, financial and health information are far more secure. We all know that turning back the clock on that progress would be a terrible idea."

    The last released non-beta iOS is 9.2.

    Bill Gates still owns some 13 billions in Microsoft stocks.

  • by zer01 on 2/23/16, 9:02 AM

    >"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,” he said. “Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said ‘don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’."

    Seriously? It's absolutely different (not to mention his ribbon analogy makes no sense at all). I see all of this more a question of "can Americans actually have anything remain private on a commercial device?". I don't want anyone but me to have unfettered access to my data, regardless of if it's phone records, bank info, or my phone's contents.

    Here's hoping that the iPhone 7 has a secure enclave that either 1.) deletes keys on firmware flash, or 2.) doesn't allow it to be upgraded ever.

  • by citizensixteen on 2/23/16, 8:39 AM

    I do not understand why Bill Gates would take a contrary position to Silicon Valley / tech community on this issue. Any insight into why he is taking this stance?

    What I have found even more confusing is why the FBI hasn't asked the NSA for help. The NSA's thousands of skilled hackers simply can't break into an old iPhone?

  • by Johnny555 on 2/23/16, 9:02 AM

    Does he feel that Apple should also unlock the 12 other phones the Justice Department is reportedly also filing court orders for?

    http://gizmodo.com/justice-department-forcing-apple-to-unloc... The Justice Department is pursuing court orders to force Apple Inc. to help investigators extract data from iPhones in about a dozen undisclosed cases around the country...

    And what about when authorities in the UK also have cases where they "need" phones to be unlocked? And how about China? And every other government in the world that may want to have phones unlocked?

  • by somberi on 2/23/16, 10:16 AM

    In an interview with Rolling Stone's Jeff Goodell, the Microsoft co-founder and richest man in the world did not mince words when asked if he considered whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor.

    "I think he broke the law, so I certainly wouldn't characterize him as a hero," Gates said. "If he wanted to raise the issues and stay in the country and engage in civil disobedience or something of that kind, or if he had been careful in terms of what he had released, then it would fit more of the model of 'OK, I'm really trying to improve things.' You won't find much admiration from me."

    Gates said that there "has to be a debate" about government snooping, but indicated that some aspects of government surveillance are best left a secret.

    Microsoft has seen quite a bit of controversy regarding its alleged cooperation with the NSA. Last July, the Guardian reported that Microsoft had aided both the NSA and FBI in accessing user data, including providing video and audio conversations from Skype, Microsoft's video chat service. A Der Spiegel report in December also found that the NSA would use fake Windows error messages to spy on people.

    Ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-gates-snowden_n_496...

    http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/bill-gates-the-roll...

  • by castell on 2/23/16, 2:12 PM

    @dang: why is this news not on the frontpage? I found out about this news on a local newspaper site - not good :(

    So how many people flagged this news? Which company IP address range were involved? Keep an eye on that. Thanks.

    It's on 285. right now:

      Bill Gates Says Apple Should Unlock the iPhone (techcrunch.com)
  59 points by phesse14 5 hours ago 91 comments
    What's going on?

    On 212:

      Bill Gates Says Apple Should Unlock San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone for FBI (macrumors.com) 
  13 points by samstokes 7 hours ago 8 comments
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11157328

    And on 1:

      Bill Gates calls for terror data debate (bbc.com) 
  22 points by lentil_soup 52 minutes ago 4 comments
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11158647

  • by StreamBright on 2/23/16, 9:09 AM

    I disagree with Gates on this one, I think in the US that has common law legal systems, setting the precedent by unlocking (if possible) the iphone in question would be disastrous.

  • by p01926 on 2/23/16, 9:07 AM

    So why is Microsoft fighting us.gov regarding access to data stored in another country? Isn't that, to the layman, just another variety of ribbon-wrapped box. Gates should know that, just like extra-jurisdictional data retrieval, signed malware data retrieval is dangerous, bad business and awful precedent. He must publicly set the record straight for his company's stance to have any credibility.

  • by saiya-jin on 2/23/16, 9:32 AM

    well, what a coincidence, I guess MS phones aren't selling well, so let's undermine competition a bit.

    not for a second do I suspect mr gates to be stupid or not comprehending situation in full detail, with all possible consequences. and here I thought that he went from most hated IT guy on this planet in '90s to somebody actually concerned about good of the mankind. can somebody shed some light what would be his true motivations for these statements?

  • by abpavel on 2/23/16, 9:22 AM

    Bill Gates: "Let's say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said 'don't make me cut this ribbon because you'll make me cut it many times'"

    ...Well, that sums up his understanding of the the encryption technology. Then what are we to expect of the general public, when even Bill Gates sees a "ribbon around a disk drive"?

  • by arihant on 2/23/16, 9:42 AM

    No, Mr. Gates, cutting this ribbon would mean that all the other ribbons are cut by default. Not just by your allies, but by your not-so-friends in North Korea.

    It's not about cutting a ribbon. It's about putting a hard drive in a box that self destructs when you try to open it. What your friends are asking is not to cut a ribbon, but to make the box open safely with a master key. Your government could not even stop wikileaks and your own employee to turn against you -- how do you expect the world to trust them with master key?

    Overreaching beyond means and have it blow up in the face is quickly becoming an American virtue in the 21st century.

  • by frik on 2/23/16, 1:52 PM

    Wasn't MSFT the first company to hand over all data to a three letter agency? Yes it was. So no surprise. Win10 was born in this context too. And he still owns billions worth of its stock.

  • by dano on 2/23/16, 2:40 PM

    Considering Windows 10 full disk encryption sends the keys to Microsoft, I am not surprised.

    https://theintercept.com/2015/12/28/recently-bought-a-window...

  • by dingo_bat on 2/23/16, 9:16 AM

    Can anybody explain why unlocking just this specific phone is bad? Can't we decide on a case-by-case basis? It's not like Apple is being asked to backdoor all Iphones so FBI can read everyone's data. Just this specific one ordered by court. What am I missing?

  • by bleachedsleet on 2/23/16, 9:49 AM

  • by cbeach on 2/23/16, 10:05 AM

    "No computer will ever need more than 640K memory" - Bill Gates 1981

    "There is no future in the Internet." - Bill Gates 1988

  • by marak830 on 2/23/16, 10:15 AM

    Wow. Just wow. I keep thinking there is some huge cavet missing from the story, but if there isnt, that is massivly disconnected from reality.

    Call and message info, okay maybe, but full access? There is no way you can say thats fine.

    I have said it in an earlier comment and ill say it again, i think they are inly doing this, on this case, to make a precedent, and only on this case, as few people will want it to be on record, that they are 'siding' with terrorists.

    Imho, its bullshit, all the way through.

  • by abpavel on 2/23/16, 9:30 AM

    Coming from a man who created aptly named "Windows", where FBI never needs to ask for access.

  • by studentrob on 2/23/16, 9:43 AM

    Gates does some great things but he's not thinking far enough into the future here.

    If our law enforcement cannot understand that terrorists will simply switch to use another encryption tool, then we have a much bigger problem than unlocking a single iPhone. Our security force does not know how to keep us safe. I'd rather they figure that out sooner than later.

  • by mathetic on 2/23/16, 10:44 AM

    Bill Gates led a company that shipped products with poor security for decades just to maintain their first mover advantage. He actively and deliberately took part in abusing the fact that security is not the first thing assessed in a product.

    He might be a brilliant man, but he clearly doesn't have the vision when it comes to security and privacy.

  • by 4684499 on 2/23/16, 9:23 AM

    No surprises, considering his attitude to Bitcoin.

  • by ousta on 2/23/16, 9:31 AM

    Is anyone doubting apple unlocked the iPhone? I don't understand B Gates stance. of course they did unlock and give it to the police. of course they will never say it in a PR and we all know why. Is anyone doubting that we are now living in a world where EVERY one of us is a potential suspect being processed in a set of crappy ML algorithms and stats where our faces, fingersprints, RFID cards are being captured at every instant of our lives? and don't worry IOT is coming. Alexa is already the premise of HAL except that the AI that controls the world will never happen. Much worse will happen. People that do not care about mankind or freedom will listen to our every moves, every instant of our lives.