Google Also Won't Unlock Devices For Law Enforcement → in be4 they don't need to

the cloud has all the data the phone has.

Exactly. Why spend the time cracking the passcode/passlocks when the user has already posted on their Facebook wall that they committed the crime?
Or intercept the data between the handset and the tower.
Or intercept the data at the switching point.
Or, or, or... so many possibilities.

There was a news article saying that there were tons of these 'cell towers' that are setup but no one knows what they are for. They were hidden inside antennas and crosses and such.

Only if you choose to put it there. It is now YOUR CHOICE.

These changes lock Apple/Google out of being able to decrypt your PHONE, making it impossible for them to comply with supoeans demanding they unlock a customer's encrypted phone. Sync to your local computer and do not use the cloud for any personal data.

This is a very big change, giving the phone owner control over what can and can not be stolen by nefarious actors like spammers, scammers, and government agents.

Why all the negative comments over this? I thought most folks would be glad about gaining a bit more control over their data.

eh. these guys are a day late on trust.

Some of these are "disguised" not for negative intentions but for aesthetics.
Other towers are set up but are not activated until peak times such as during football games, sporting events, concerts, or are used for continuous coverage if a tower goes down.

But police need a warrant when they want data from Google (in theory). Up till this year many did not need a warrant to rummage through your phone.

Or maybe Google uses encrypted transports for data between all points so someone can't just casually sit somewhere and be "reading the mail" anytime they want.

if you have something to hide don't use the cloud or facebook its really that simple

The mere fact that we're even discussing advisement to not use Facebook if someone has something to hide says volumes about how idiotic some people in society are today.

the only choice you have is to either not use the Internet or to use the Internet. Not much of a choice in the modern economy.

People are not stupid enough to use those unsecured online storage. They will use 3rd party encrypted online storage.

You listed only one possibility.
The other two things you listed only work if you have a time machine or if you record all the data from every cell phone 24/7.

Um...If they are not activated because of demand then they would not allow a phone to connect to them and they would not be asking the phone for its GPS data.

The towers they found were operational and collecting data, but were not real telecom cell towers.

Back to the point of this thread (smartphone encryption), you do have a choice to put your data in the cloud where it can be stolen, or not to. There is no need to use insecure cloud storage, that's your choice.

You seem to be under the delusion that any use of the Internet means you lose control of your data. This is a wrong and dangerous attitude, and perpetuates the public's apathy and ignorance about security and privacy.

Utah data center?

you don't have a choice in the matter. You don't have access to see what data is sent to who with computers unless you can read the source and compile it yourself. We trust that we understand what is going on, but we will never know for sure.

and we don't know what goes on there.

Yup yup. I guess the goal is just to make your data harder to get to than the other guys.

Besides, if the powers that be wanted your data, they'd get it -- one way or another.

If you have an iPhone, how do you back it up without using the cloud?

A while back I was going to wipe and re-install a friend's computer, but she had iTunes on there for her iPhone. I don't have an iPhone and have only ever looked at iTunes briefly, but all the information I found on the net said that there was no way to sync from the phone to the computer, just from the computer to the phone. So if I wiped the system and re-installed everything, including iTunes, it would want to wipe the phone, since syncing makes the phone match what's on the computer, even if what's on the computer is nothing.

I searched all over for a reliable way to back up the data so that I could re-install the system. In the end, I couldn't find a way that was 100% guaranteed to work, so I didn't do it. I wasn't going to be responsible for causing her phone to be wiped. Now she says it's backed up on iCloud, but how do you back it up without using iCloud?

HUH???

Apple will still be required to unlock any devices that run iOS 7 and older, and Google will be the same for 4.2 and back.

Like I said I don't know much about using iTunes...

As I understand it, syncing the phone means that iTunes takes whatever is on the computer and puts it on the phone. Anything that isn't on the computer gets deleted from the phone. For example if you delete a particular photo from iTunes, it will be deleted from the phone when you next sync it. Correct?

What I read on the web was that if I wiped the computer and re-installed iTunes, iTunes would be empty and the next time she synced her phone with the computer, it would wipe everything from the phone because none of that stuff is on the computer.

If I were to re-install iTunes, meaning it's completely empty of content, then connect the phone and make a backup, would that then allow her to use the sync option without losing anything? In other words, would making a backup re-populate iTunes with everything that was in the old copy before the computer was wiped so that she could continue syncing the phone as if nothing happened?

said by dra6o0n:

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There was a news article saying that there were tons of these 'cell towers' that are setup but no one knows what they are for.

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Stingray. LE interception with[out] proper legal standing.

said by dra6o0n:

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They were hidden inside antennas and crosses and such.

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For the most part, totally different beast. This is for the tower nimby's. And any one found to be one should have their wireless devices of any form confiscated, their name put on the Wireless Terrorist List, shipped to Gitmo, and then let what ever happens there happen.

said by exocet_cm:

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Exactly. Why spend the time cracking the passcode/passlocks when the user has already posted on their Facebook wall that they committed the crime?

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Don't have facedorq, twitidiot, instastupid et al.

Not every one uses that crap. Matter of fact I actively avoid it, and it is banned by me at work. Its a terminal offense to use agency devices of any form phone, tablet, or computer to access them, circumvent blocks of same and others. And it has a ZERO TOLERANCE level. One and done. No ifs, ands, or buts. Perp walked out the building. We will think about sending you a box with your stuff, maybe.

said by exocet_cm:

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Or intercept the data between the handset and the tower.
Or intercept the data at the switching point.

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Ummm.. its encrypted at the phone, thus what is on the RF signal leaving the device is encrypted! Already.

Next.

Guess the NSA will get to test out all that stuff in Utah!

said by exocet_cm:

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Or, or, or... so many possibilities.

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Your going to need physical access to that device, and or the end points where it hits public sites or non encrypted services as listed previously.

said by ArrayList:

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the only choice you have is to either not use the Internet or to use the Internet. Not much of a choice in the modern economy.

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True, but Y-O-U can CUT DOWN the amount of BS that is collected.. and you can make it a little bit tougher for the alphabets and others to sniff clear text stuff

VPN
Adblock
Ghostery
null routing of IP blocks
proxy
encrypted email
encrypted hard disks

I use them all in combination with each other. I could be any of 230 different places at any given moment.

Plus using that computer built in, to think about what you put out there before you do so. I know all too many people posting crap on the sites listed here. I have a term for it,

stalker media.