(C) Alec Muffett's DropSafe blog.
Author Name: Alec Muffett
This story was originally published on allecmuffett.com. [1]
License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.[2]


Now the dust has settled I would like to strongly condemn @jason_koebler & @josephfcox (& by extension @404mediaco) for misrepresenting the new iPhone “reboot” feature as an Anti-Law-Enforcement measu

2024-11-13 09:02:46+00:00

I shouldn’t have to spell this out but: Apple does not ship platform features on the grounds that “All Cops Are Bastards”, and fostering that perspective actively harms online security efforts.

Jason should be fully aware of such truth, and even if he is not he has got former Londoner Joseph Cox (only marginally less culpable) available to him who should have provided a parental steering hand, not fuel for the fire.

If I am generous I could hypothesize that the 404 Media coverage of the story has been biased by the way they first encountered it — perhaps also factoring their perception of how best to maximise story impact — but the truth of the matter is: at least in London phone-theft is at epidemic levels, and we should welcome any feature which serves to lock down the data on those phones, WITHOUT trying to frame it as “fuck the man“.

One of the first things that criminals do when they steal a phone is engage aeroplane mode and switch off Bluetooth, which they can do without even unlocking the phone, and this gives them a time window (before the network is used to remotely lock or wipe the device) during which they can attack the device more easily.

It is a fundamental of computer security that all features are dual use so that (yes) password crackers maybe used by systems administrators and hackers alike, and (yes) end-to-end encryption protects secrets for good guys and bad guys alike, and (yes) locking-out criminals looks the same as locking-out forensic specialists.

BUT YOU ARE NOT HELPING THE CAUSE OF BETTER CYBERSECURITY BY FRAMING SUCH NUANCE AS “ACAB”.

The role of journalism is to improve understanding, not to mislead it.
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[1] URL: https://alecmuffett.com/article/110632
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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