Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 30 (February 2016)

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Panel:

The show starts with a quick look at some interesting Apple-related numbers released in February before moving on to a quick review of the month’s legal news. The three main stories for the month are: Apple’s legal battle with the FBI, Error 53, and Apple Pay’s launch in China. The show finishes with a quick rundown of some other shorter stories that made the news in February.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

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Notable Numbers
  • According to IDC, Apple's iPad Pro out-sold Microsoft's Surface Pro over the holidays – Apple are estimated to have sold 2M iPad Pros, and Microsoft 1.6M Surface Pros – www.imore.com/…
  • Apple Pay passed another major milestone – now available at over 2 million locations – www.businesstimes.com.sg/…
  • Strategy Analytics estimates that there were about 8.1 million smart watches shipped in the 2015 holiday quarter, and that about 5.1 million of them were Apple Watches – www.imore.com/…
Legal Latest
  • VirnetX -v- Apple retrial
  • Samsung -v- Apple II
    • Samsung have won their appeal – the $120 jury verdict has been overturned, the panel of appeals judges finding that Samsung did not infringe one of the patents in question, and that the other two are invalid – www.reuters.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
Main Stories
  1. FBI -v- Apple
    • The Sequence of Events
      • Apple ordered to create a custom version of iOS that strips out critical security features that form part of the encryption system on iPhones – www.reuters.com/…
      • A direct link to the court order: assets.documentcloud.org/…
      • Tim Cook writes an open letter explaining why Apple will challenge the order – www.apple.com/…
      • The US DOJ files papers in support of the FBI requesting that Apple be forced to comply with the order – www.macobserver.com/…
      • Apple confirmed they have been helping the FBI, that they have handed over iCloud backups, and that their plan to get the data via a new iCloud backup was foiled by the iCould password being reset by county officials AFTER the San Bernardino attacks (later revealed to be at the request of the FBI) – www.macobserver.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
      • A petition has been started on WhiteHouse.gov asking the government to stop asking Apple for back doors – www.macobserver.com/…
      • Tim Cook follows up open letter with letter to employees and public FAQ – www.imore.com/…
      • FBI Director James Comey publishes open letter – www.macobserver.com/… & daringfireball.net/…
      • Apple secures the services of legendary attorney Ted Olsen – www.imore.com/…
      • FBI director admits Apple case could set precedent – www.macobserver.com/…
      • San Bernardino police chief admits that there's a "reasonably good chance that there is nothing of any value on the phone" – arstechnica.com/…
      • The US DOJ has 9 more iPhones they want unlocked, and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance says he has about 175 he wants unlocked – www.nytimes.com/…
      • Apple file their response to the court order, citing both first and fifth amendment rights – tidbits.com/…
      • Apple & FBI testify before congress – www.macobserver.com/… & nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
      • Apple files a formal objection to court order (in addition to their previous filed response) – www.imore.com/…
      • A judge in a similar case in NY finds that the FBI can't use the All Writs Act to force Apple to create a custom OS to facilitate hacking – www.macobserver.com/…
      • Congressman Jolly (Republican, FL) has introduced a bill to ban the government from buying Apple phones – arstechnica.com/…
      • A French law maker has proposed a law that would fine Apple & Google €1m if they refuse to hack smartphones – www.thelocal.fr/…
      • The San Bernardino District Attorney invents a baseless "dormant cyber pathogen" that might exist on the phone, though provides zero evidence to substantiate his invented concept – arstechnica.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
      • Amicus Briefs and letters start flowing in in support of Apple – Apple start an online list so we can all keep track – www.apple.com/…
      • Samsung state their position, which is in line with Apple's, but do not explicitly support Apple – www.imore.com/…
      • A few amicus briefs also filed in favour of the FBI, but not many Philip Elmer-DeWitt puts collates a lit of amicus briefs both for and against Apple – ped30.com/…
    • Notable Expert Opinions
      • Security maven Bruce Schneier comes out in favour of Apple "either everyone gets security, or no one does" – www.washingtonpost.com/…
      • Security researcher Rich Mogull explains why the core question raised is "do we have a right to security" – securosis.com/…
      • Another piece from Rich Mogull explain why this is is the most important civil rights case for a decade – "the FBI need the precedent more than the evidence" – www.macworld.com/…
      • General Hayden, former director of the ICA and NSA has reiterated his support for unbreakable encryption, because it makes Americans "more secure" – www.macobserver.com/…
      • Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski (we've talked about his work before) explains that what the FBI is asking for is MUCH more onerous than you might think – www.zdziarski.com/…
      • Security researcher Nicholas Weaver explains why this is not so much a slippery slope as a cliff – www.lawfareblog.com/…
      • Brian Krebs gives his view of the case – krebsonsecurity.com/…
    • Other Notable Opinions:
      • Mark Cuban gives Apple "a standing ovation" for their stand against the FBI, and explains why it is imperative that Apple win this case – blogmaverick.com/… & blogmaverick.com/…
      • Dan Goodin explains why it is appropriate to call what the FBI as demanding a back door – arstechnica.com/…
      • The New Your Times editorial board chimes in with support for Apple – www.nytimes.com/…
      • US congressman Ted Lieu from California comes out in support of Apple, asks the FBI to stop trying to force Apple to create a compromised version of iOS – www.macobserver.com/… & lieu.house.gov/…
      • John Gruber points out that in a 1987 ruling Justice Scalia came down in favour of law enforcement not getting everything they want when there are larger liberties at steak – "The constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all" – daringfireball.net/…
      • The New Yorker explains how dangerous a precedent it would set if the interpretation of the All Writs Act were expanded as far as the FBI are trying to push it – www.newyorker.com/…
      • Chairman of ThoughtWorks publishes open letter in support of Apple – www.thoughtworks.com/…
      • John Gruber points out that there have alway been "warrant proof places" – daringfireball.net/…
    • Other Relevant Links
  2. Error 53 – nakedsecurity.sophos.com/…
    • Apple acknowledged the problem, and explained that it was caused by failed TouchID security checks – appleinsider.com/…
    • A class action suit was launched – arstechnica.com/…
    • Apple issues an update to iOS & iTunes that will fix Error 53 and stop it happening again. They also explain that the error bricking phones was not intentional, and apologised. For security reasons, Touch ID sensors that fail their integrity checks will still be bricked, but NOT the entire phones – social.techcrunch.com/…
    • iFixIt Confirm that Apple's updates do indeed un-brick iPhones bricked by Error 53 – ifixit.org/…
  3. Apple Pay Launches in China
    • Initial demand was high, and some users ran into problems when registrations failed to complete – tidbits.com/…
    • Two days after launch there were reportedly over 3 millions cards added – www.imore.com/…
Quick Stories

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