Posted on 02/11/2016 6:51:08 AM PST by Iron Munro
FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday one of the phones used by the killers in the San Bernardino, California, attacks remains inaccessible to investigators more than two months after 14 people were fatally shot.
Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey cited the case as an example of how encryption is affecting counterterrorism efforts. But he said the dilemma of bad guys "going dark" is mostly affecting state and local law enforcement officials who are trying to solve murder, drug and car accident cases.
Companies are increasingly making devices such as cellphones with encryption that allows only the people communicating to read the messages.
Comey said it's a big problem when law enforcement armed with a search warrant can't open a phone, even when a judge says there's probable cause to have it opened.
The December 2 shooting left 14 people dead and 22 others wounded.
Investigators were also seeking information about an 18-minute gap in the timeline between the deadly attack at the Inland Regional Center and the shootout in which both attackers, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were killed.
The man who bought the rifles used in the attack, Enrique Marquez Jr., has pleaded not guilty to charges in a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring with Farook and to provide material support to terrorists.
The White House has called on the tech industry for help in disrupting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other terrorist groups. Investigators say the San Bernardino shooting was inspired by ISIS.
Give it to a 15 year old.
Like I would believe anything the FBI says.
They say that like it's a bad thing.
Hey FBI... get a charger for the phone, charge it up then turn it on.
And most definitely not a reason to demand that companies provide a back door for the government
Exactly, but if they are telling the truth they can always find some kid in middle school to help them. (as noted by Res. Conserv. :-) )
Heres the problem: No good turn goes unpunished. Help the govt and theyre sure to use it against you at some point the future. Once the govt can read encrypted messages theyll do it without a warrant. It will be justified poorly by broad excuses like combating terriorism, war on drugs etc etc. Given them an inch and theyll take a parsec. Their interest isnt to protect the citizenry but rather to increase their power and sphere of influence. They view us as surfs and themselves as masters.
Are they actually trying to tell us that the US government can track every American citizen’s phone, every bit of data and email, but can’t figure out this?!
“Can’t?”
More like, “Was ordered NOT to.”
The problem is they weren’t allowed to act on the evidence they had in advance.
The Islamo-Apologists have won that battle and we will continue to be victimized until that changes.
The reason we knew the perp’s name within an hour of the attacks is that they’d already been under surveillance and the press heard the name repeated on police scanners.
They’re mostly concerned about the resistance having opsec when TSHTF. Must prevent that!
The FBI and Homeland Security have a budget of billions of dollars, all kind of power, laws and control, and still missed these guys.
If you were given a lot of power and a health salary, and a fat budget at your job in the private sector, and you screwed up as bad as the FBI did here, you'd be fired.
If you are in government, though, you demand more money and powers.
Government is the "Peter Principle" on steroids.
Then fire the current FBI help and rehire some that are qualified. They already have the metadata, so the argument about who they were talking too is not on the table. They can get the encrypted files, the government can have as many computers working on it as they wish. This poor us story doesn’t add up.
We don’t need more information “after the fact”!
We need to be able to act on the information we have BEFORE the attacks!!
This administration’s caving to Islamo-Fascists has eliminated our ability to act on what we know.
Most 15 year olds are dumb as blocks these days. They are becoming technological idiots, more so then their grandparents
Sure they know how to text and send selfies but it ends right there
Instead of booting out the Muslims or not letting more of them in, the FBI wants people to give up more privacy to make their jobs easier, jobs they wouldn’t have to do if not for the policies of the politicians.
Charming.
Total crap. Our tax dollars at work.
If only they passed a law against encryption. Then it would be impossible for anyone to encrypt anything and we would all be safe again.
/s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.