Anyone who thinks Apple and the FBI are stuck in the iPhone manufacturer’s criminal consumer investigations deserves to think again. In Seattle, Apple provided the federal government with important evidence from one of its iCloud users who was arrested for bombing police cars during George Floyd’s protests in vanquished May.
The case shows how Apple is willing to do so even when the context of the crime is controversial, namely the Black Lives Matter protests. Demands from the Chinese government came after Apple said the government would not enter the physical iPhones of a Saudi citizen who shot and killed three other people at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, in December 2019 (The FBI still hacked the phones. )
In the Case of Seattle, the FBI was informed of the identity of a protester who, according to police, had set fire to at least two police patrol cars in a protest against police brutality on May 30 following the murder of George Floyd, according to a court order. The FBI verified the opposite recommendation for surveillance cables, images of news broadcasts, and social media images, and decided the leader was suing. They received Verizon records of the suspect, Kelly Jackson, who revealed his location, the protests, the calls he made, and the fact that he was using an iPhone 7.
That’s when the FBI called Apple to request the suspect’s iCloud information. Cupertino’s tech giant returned a treasure trove of possible evidence, adding screenshots found in Jackson’s photo library, according to the court order. demonstration, nicknamed “The Rebel March of Resistance against Injustice”. Then there is a screenshot of mtlcounterinfo. org with a list of “ingredients” for a Molotov cocktail.
Videos from iCloud’s account showed the hands of a white man opening a black bag containing a bottle of green glass with a gold cap, filled with liquid, the FBI wrote, and others showed a similar glass bottle thrown into a vehicle driver’s open door. The person who dropped the bomb then held in front of the camera, although his face was not visual, according to the FBI. His visual face on a symbol taken later that day on the same phone. and it looks like he’s dressed in the same sweatshirt as the user who set the police vehicle on fire, the firm added.
Jackson was arrested last week and charged with illegal possession of a destructive device and arson. He has not yet pleaded guilty and his lawyer had not commented at the time of publication.
Apple, which had not responded to a request for comment, settled for passing on iCloud’s knowledge of the suspects in the vast majority of cases where the US government made a valid legal request. 4095 requests on Apple user accounts and data returned for 3645 of them.
It seems that if the government asks Apple to provide information about its server accounts, rather than breaking the security of its iPhone, the tech titan will comply.
I am an associate editor for Forbes, Security, Surveillance and Confidentiality.
I am associate editor of Forbes, which covers security, surveillance and confidentiality. Since 2010, as a freelancer, I have worked for The Guardian, Vice Motherboard, Wired and BBC. com, among others. I named BT Security Journalist of the Year in 2012 and 2013 for a number of exclusive items, and in 2014 I won the award for the most productive article for an article on harassment of security professionals through the US government. But it’s not the first time I like to hear hackers breaking things to laugh or benefit from and researchers that I’ve discovered unpleasant things on the web. Tell me about Signal at 447837496820. I also use WhatsApp and Treema. Or you can email me at TBrewster@forbes. com, or tbthomasbrewster@gmail. com.