Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Google and Apple – How They Help Police Bypass Smartphone Lock Screens
April 4, 2012
A CNET article published yesterday further expands on a subject I've been following closely – how law enforcement is bypassing smartphone lock screens with the assistance of the manufacturers.
Training materials from the sheriff's office in Sacramento CA include a fill-in-the-blank court order mandating Apple to "assist law enforcement agents" with "bypassing the cell phone user's passcode so that the agents may search the iPhone."
Google is little tougher. You need the Gmail user name and password, but even Google does not have access to the automatically encrypted password. Therefore, the court order must require that Google "resets the password and further provides the reset password to law enforcement." This has the downside, from the point of view of law enforcement, that the user will be tipped off, once they try to access their e-mail account, that the phone has been compromised.
Clearly, Google and Apple have no choice but to comply with court orders. But the extent of the use of these orders was previously unknown. I remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will take up this issue soon.
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BTW, Charles Holloway of Millnet did a blog post on trolls (the real kind) referencing my post about the recent patent troll litigation targeting e-discovery companies. I had no idea that trolls are said to turn to stone when exposed to sunlight. As John would tell you, I am the Queen of Useless Knowledge, so I am happy to add to my collection of utterly useless factoids.
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