Apple Inc. and FBI Case Finally Over – So Who Really Won This Battle?

The technology company did not create the backdoor software itself, but someone else did.

The long legal case going on between Apple Inc. and the FBI over encryption of an iPhone has finally come closer to its end. The Feds have officially decided to drop their request of unlocking, rather forcing the technology company to unlock an iPhone of a terrorist suspect in the San Bernardino Attack in December. The government has recently stated the FBI no along needs Apple’s help of the specific device as it has managed to unlock the phone themselves with the assistance of a third party who remains to be anonymous. Hence, they have concluded that the assistance of the Silicon Valley giant is not required anymore.

A quick review of the case that during the San Bernardino was Attack, an iPhone 5C was discovered that happened to be that of one of the suspects who were involved in the incident, Rizwan Farook. However, after obtaining the device, the FBI was unable to unlock it and hence was unable to extract any information from the smartphone due to the strong encryption that Apple provided. However, they approached the CEO of the technology organization, Tim Cook, who refused to create a ‘backdoor’ for the device. Since the company refused to assist in this matter, as they did not want to break the security of their system and jeopardize the security of millions of iPhone users all across the globe. Later, the matter was taken to the court by the FBI due to which a number of other tech companies in the industry got involved as well including Google, Facebook and Microsoft – and understanding Apple’s stance, supported the company and stood by it.

However, after a number of hearings, the court was about to make the final announcement last week but since the FBI found a third party to assist them in their endeavor, the FBI abruptly cancelled the final hearing and stated: they required two more weeks to see if this works for them however, it was finally announced earlier yesterday that the method was successful and they were able to unlock the iPhone due to which the case is officially closed now.

This ultimately means that Apple has won this battle victorious, but has it really? We think not, as the whole point of not creating software to not jeopardize the privacy of millions of iPhone users all over the world. However, now apparently there is a backdoor if the FBI has managed to unlock the iPhone. Tim Cook continuously emphasized on how creating software to unlock would be back for privacy, national security etc. and that is exactly what has happened. The third party has managed to create software (backdoor) that can break Apple’s security measure which was only there to keep the privacy of its customer’s secure. This puts a big dent on the security encryption of Apple, and hence damages a bit of the company’s brand image as well.

Apple Inc. is not working on knowing how this was done and they want all the details of how the FBI and the third party managed to break the lock in order to make its security more strong. However, now the officials are getting back at the company by declining to do so. They have refused to let them know who the third party is and how they hacked the phone which leaves the company vulnerable to future hackers.

However, despite all this, the company states that it is on the government’s side and will support it no matter what. And they have further stated that they will continue to support the law enforcement with any of their investigations as they have continually tried to do so in the same case as well. 

Apple Inc. Employees Might Quite if They Are Forced to Create a 'Backdoor'

Apple might start to lose its employees if the government keeps pushing them to build 'GovOS'

F.B.I. has been on Apple, Inc.’s case for way too long even if the Federal Authority manages to win against the technology giant in the court fight, it’s safe to say that it won’t be able to win from the company’s engineers. Forcing a private organization to break its own security system might not be as easy as the FBI thinks it is.

As per a report by the New York Times, even if the authorities win at the court fight against the Silicon Valley organization, the engineer who will be working on the ‘backdoor’ software might quit or leave the company entirely – because they would rather leave their jobs than be forced into doing something that they don’t want to do. If all the employees associated with this task take action against it, it will be next to impossible for FBI to convince them otherwise.

As per a recent filing released by the iPhone maker, it will take up to two to four weeks to create a backdoor which they are calling ‘GovOS’ and six to ten engineers will be assigned to perform the devious task. This timeline is likely to fulfill provided the team is consistent and motivated to work on it. If anyone on that specific team lags, there’s a possibility that the creation of the software could take an indefinite time.

The CEO, Tim Cook has been constantly emphasizing on the fact that he or his lawyers are not anti-law; they are on the government’s side but they just don’t believe in creating a backdoor for something that could be destructive to millions of iPhone users all across the globe. Cook further explained that in the case of the San Bernardino suspect’s iPhone, he does not have the key to that iPhone and at this point, the government simply wants a key for iPhones to use for unknown purposes in the future. He added during an interview with the Time that he was not trying to annoying the FBI; he was simply trying to protect thousands of his customers.

Apple has mentioned in its legal documents that the government’s demands are taking speech freedom awake from the people by asking for something that is offensive for millions of iPhone users. A venture capitalist, Jean-Louis Gassee stated that the culture followed at the most valuable company in the United States is an independent and rebellious one. Jean once worked as an engineer at the technology company and says if the government forces the engineers to go forward with creating this software, they are pretty much on their own.

Tim Cook even mentioned in one of his telegraphs last month to its customers how the engineers are likely to respond to this request; he stated that these are the workers who create strong encryptions for the protection of its customers and now they are being ordered to go against their work and weaken those protections which would ultimately make users less safe.

Apple Fined $450 Million In E-Books Case

The U.S Supreme Court rejected Apple's appeal and settled on paying a fine of $450 million to consumers, states and legal fee.

Apple has been fined $450 million to withdraw from an antitrust suit as the U.S Supreme Court has completely retracted from Federal Court’s verdict. The Supreme Court has denied listening to any argument against the fact Apple’s involvement in the manipulation of prices of electronic books.

Apple Inc. had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the verdict that stated that the technology company was involved in over-charging its customers for eBooks. This appeal by the iPhone maker was reject by the Court. As per a court filing in 2014, the iPhone maker had agreed to pay the above-mentioned amount to settle the allegations that were made by U.S Justice Department and a number of other consumers.

As per the settlement, the Cupertino, California based organization has to pay $400 million to the customers that it was over-charging for e-books, over $30 million as legal fees while $20 million to the states. The U.S Justice Department said in a statement that consumers of e-books will also get credits for future eBook purchases.

Bill Baer, the assistant attorney general, said in a statement that the tech giant was ‘knowingly’ involved in overcharging the eBook customers with the help of book publishers but this issue is settled once and for all.

The technology company launched the iBook store back in 2010 in an effort to capture Amazon’s bookstore market. In the eBook world, Apple made this entry in an attempt to dethrone the retail giant however it is quite evident that it didn’t manage to live up to its endeavors as now the company is being forced to pay a handsome amount of money as fine for conspiring with book publishers.

At the time when Apple wanted to dominate the e-book market, Amazon Inc. was known as the loss leader in selling books as it was selling them for a price of $9.99 but nonetheless, it dominated the market.

According to this case, the federal judge found out that Apple was conspiring with five of the best publishers in Manhattan; they were shifting to a system according to which the publishers would set the prices instead of the retailers. Denise Cote, the U.S. District Judge stated that due to this strategy, there was a 40% increase in the eBooks best sellers.

Furthermore, the District Judge also mentioned how the late founder and CEO of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs was questioned at an event while introducing the iPad regarding the high prices of eBooks on the iBookstore. He was asked why someone would pay $14.99 when they can buy the same eBook at a price of $9.99 from Amazon. To this, Jobs replied that the prices would be the same and that the publishers were not happy with selling the books at a rate that Amazon was selling the books.

In its defense, the tech company stated that ever since they have entered the market the competition has enhanced and the prices of these eBooks has fallen. 

Apple Inc. Vs, FBI The Case Just Keeps Getting Better

Tonight is the night we will find out who won this battle. The Monday ruling could have a huge effect on the decision.

The on-going battle between two giants the FBI and Apple Inc. has gone to another level now. All eyes are glued on who would win this battle. It all started when the FBI asked the tech giant to decrypt an iPhone that was found on one of the suspects of the San Bernardino attack in December. However, this saga has come to point where we can say that the ball might be in Apple’s court.

There had been an unrelated but similar case earlier and on Monday a federal judge in Brooklyn stated that the iPhone maker cannot be forced to by-pass the security passcode on the device. This case involves a meth dealer’s iPhone 5s by the name of Jun Feng. There was a raid at the meth dealer’s house during which the DEA – Drugs Enforcement Administration discovered a phone; while questioning the suspect, he state that he did not remember the password due to which the DEA had to turn to the FBI for assistance.

In the following months of the raid, the FBI constantly nagged the iPhone maker to unlock the device or create a backdoor for the specific device so they are able to access the data of the phone however Apple Inc. did not comply with the request of the Feds. However the authorities did not stop asking the technology company to do so despite that fact that the suspect was pleaded guilty. This makes us think that the FBI just wants the company to create a backdoor through which they are able to gain access to millions of user’s data.

The authorities even played the “All Writs Act” card to their advantage however it failed to work for them as the Federal Magistrate Judge James Orenstein stated that it lacked legal footing. They relentlessly came up with arguments for the company to comply with their request. The matter still stands that if the company even decided to create such a software it would give access of data to potentially everyone because who is to say that they the hackers will not gain access to the software.

The ruling that was passed on Monday worked more in the tech giant’s favor than in the favor of the FBI as the company and a number of other technology companies have argued at numerous occasions that they cannot be forced to do something that they do not want to do especially when it comes to the violation of its customer’s privacy. The iPhone manufacturer has made its stance very clearly with everyone publicly, despite the fact that it understands the importance of national security the organization does not want to jeopardize the privacy of its users and hence has decline to unlock the phone.

However the technology giant wants to put this case behind it now due to which it has appeal to the Congress and not the court so that a final decision can be made on the matter. Yet to see what the answer will be tonight. 

Apple Expected To Release iPhone 7 In September and iPhone 7s in 2017

The tech giant might be bringing in some new technology to its platform; customers expected for the new features.

Apple, Inc. is expected to release its latest iPhone 7 sometime in September 2016. The Street has been mentioning some of the features that are likely to be seen in the latest smartphone y the Silicon Valley giant. The analysts and company are hopeful that the novel device will introduce some momentum in the slow year over year growth that has been happening in iPhone shipments.

According to Business Insider, a note was published by an analyst of Barclays stating that the technology giant might not be including ‘noise cancelling headphones’ with the new smartphone. This news was reported by analysts at Barclays, Blayne Curtis and Christopher Hemmelgarn. The tech organization is likely to use the basic digital codec in 2016 preparing the company to launch its lightning-connected headphones.

It is possible that Apple will completely eliminate its earphone jack due to which users will be forced to connect their headphones via Bluetooth to the device specifically through the iPhone maker’s Lightning connector. If the business were to ditch the traditional headphone jack, a number of companies as well as the organization’s suppliers would be able to benefit from it.

As per the note published by the two Barclay analysts, Apple Inc. will be including its Lightning connector headphones and give it away with the latest smartphone it will be launching in September; as for the Cirrus’ noise-cancelling technology, that will not be included in the in-box purchase till the iPhone 7s. The S series of the latest iPhone will be out sometime in 2017.

Additionally, it is expected to replace the headphone jack with a speaker, thanks to yet another of Apple’s suppliers, Cirrus Logic. After the ‘below expectations’ sales of the iPhone 6, the technology organization is going to try its best that it lives up to the expectations of its customers, investors and analysts with the launch of the 7 series.

In the upcoming year however the smartphone maker is likely to break a record with its latest noise-cancelling technology. It has managed to maintain a strong position in the market despite the fact that the smartphone market is at its saturation point now.

Presently, Apple stock is being traded at share price of $93.99 indicating an increase of 0.31% from its previous trading session. Furthermore, during the last trading session, the stock price of the tech giant was seen hit a high of $94.50 and a low of $93.01. The 52-week share price was reported to be $134.54 and the twelve month low was reported to be $92.00. The earnings per share reported by the Silicon Valley leader were $9.41 with price to earnings ratio of $9.98. The current market capitalization is of the once ‘most valuable company’ is at $522.75 billion.