Apple Vs. FBI

What I find more disturbing than the fact that the FBI is not backing down on this issue and understanding the company's standpoint here is the fact that the circulating survey of U.S. citizens has a slight majority taking the side of the Feds.  The number floating around is that about 51% of Americans want Apple to unlock the phone for the government, 41% say no, and the rest are undecided.

I can understand the emotion driven response of some asking Apple to comply but even emotion should not cloud the judgement of any of those 51% who understand technology at all.  I know there are a slew of people in the world today that just don't get technology.  My own mother just recently took her second stab at using a smartphone and already hates it all over again.  But this is 2016 and it saddens me to know that more than half of America's population is ignorant enough to not realize the resounding implications this precedent would represent.

No, Apple should not under any circumstances ever build a backdoor into their devices even if it is an alleged 'one-time' scenario.  There is no such thing as a 'one-time' scenario.  Once this trend is set, it cannot be unset.  Six months from now some other lunatic is going to wreak some terrific havoc.  He's going to have a locked Android device on him.  Some ignorant agent at the Bureau is going to remember this moment and rather than doing his/her job and finding the right way to the end said case, they're going to order Google to build a backdoor.  These same ignorant folk crying out now are going to cry out again... and again... and again.  At some point, most likely this very first instance, this new gateway into our beloved secure data is going to be leaked, analyzed, reverse engineered then mass-distributed along enough lines to be devastating to our personal and professional security.

How many of you use mobile banking apps?  How many use your phone to sign into one secure login or another regarding your job?  How many of you have BitCoin wallets, PayPal, Google Pay, etc. all just sitting there on your secure little haven of data and security.  Sure, there are many of you out there who don't know what half of what I just said are but you will, or at least your children will.  This is a ship that cannot be unsailed.

And just when I think it can't get much worse; I mean, at least all the tech-giants are standing fast together, right?  Yeah, not so much.  Now Bill Gates has decided to chime in.  This is the single most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed this power-mogul pull and I've seen him turn some dirty, filthy tactics onto his competition (not to mention, you his consumers.)  Bill Gates built an empire of enslaved citizens all paying hundreds for an operating system that should always have been free.  He did this to an end.  He did this to get and stay on top of the PC industry.  It worked, but this is a completely different story than the one I'm trying to tell, so I apologize for the digression.  What disgusts me about this situation is that of all the people in the world, Bill Gates is among the top rung of those that should fully understand just WHY the government, ANY government should never demand such a task as what the Feds are asking now.  So is it that he does not understand (somehow, with all his knowledge of technology and the tech world,) or that he is ignorant enough to believe that a security flaw of this magnitude is containable?  Either way, all we can do now is hope that either a public outcry or one tech-savvy judge comes forward with enough force and will to protect Apple (and any other company that would be asked to betray their customers in this way,) against this senseless act of ignorance.

UPDATE:

Now, just one day after finally chiming in on this situation, I read this at Fortune.com (by: Robert Hackett - @rhhackett) explaining that just since October the FBI has requested Apple to unlock more than twelve devices in a number of different cases.  Apple has declined on the majority and is awating further decision on a few cases.  This alone should be more than enough evidence for the argument that this is not a 'one-time' scenario.  This is an ongoing attempt of the United States government to usurp our rights to privacy and extend the long and entangling arm of an already corrupt system deeper into places they have no right to go.

Dear Rob May (@RobMay)

To begin let me say that I am a very outspoken and passionate person when you get right down to it, but I will try to keep this post strictly factual with as little emphasis on emotion as I can.  With that, I'll give you the reason.  I'm pissed.  I'm sick and tired of hearing the first-world, upper-echelon problems with Bernie Sanders.

To fully understand my anger, read this article from Fortune.com, though I will be quoting the bit that really did it for me below.

On Politics (American)

I'm going to start off by just coming out and saying that I'm voting for Bernie Sanders.  If you're not yourself a fellow Sanders fan, please continue reading before berating me in the comments.

Eight years ago, and again four years ago, I voted for a man named Barack Hussein Obama and sure enough, that man became the United States President both times.  Sure, my two measly little votes had very little to do with this fact, but they held more weight than the millions of votes not cast at all.  Now it's not my mission here to scold you and tell you to get to the polls.  I know it doesn't matter what's said by who; the non-voters aren't going to vote.  My fear is that there have become too many non-voters who would otherwise be supporting Mr. Sanders in his run for U.S. presidency.

Why Game?

Why do you game (play video games, that is,) if you do?
I typically game to relax or blow off steam.  If it's been a long and stressful day, nothing beats sitting down in front of the big screen, controller in hand, just beasting against noobs and hearing them rage in my headset each time I make one go splat (we're talking Call of Duty here.)  If I'm not in the mood for the newer maps on Black Ops 3 that I still haven't gotten used to, I'll hop over to Advanced Warfare as the servers are still usually pretty lively (they also seem more talkative on AW for some reason.)

Stupid People Making Bank

I watched the Super Bowl tonight, just like I do every year, and I must say that I wasn't impressed.  The game was good, don't get me wrong, and even though I loath and despise Denver and Payton Manning (just never liked the guy, quite possibly just because he's Eli's brother,) I enjoyed watching the game itself (even the stupid, thoughtless errors on both sides and the blind refs we've all come to love to watch.)  It was the advertisements that pissed me off.  Most were OK, some were even funny (I miss the good old days of hilarious Super Bowl ads.)  but this year it was Colgate that really pissed me off.

Campaigning

Getting Noticed

By Matt Mould

So lets face it; it's not just who you know.  It's more what you have, how you show it, more specifically the first image or few words you display, when it's displayed, where it's displayed, and to what frequency.  I've got a couple hundred LinkedIn contacts, a hundred or so Twitter followers, I'm in some 10,000 circles on G+, get quite a few views on my About.me page and now have this blog (to which I hope to have a few subscribers soon enough,) and I can't just design a cute shirt on Teespring and drop a link at each location with fingers crossed.  While I can, but nothing will come of it.

My Start With Crypto
By Matt Mould

Lets face it; unless you've got stores of reserve funds for startup costs and to make ends meet in the interim phases, going to work for yourself can really suck.  It's a goal that should not be sought after lightly.  It's also not a goal that should be taken on prematurely.  Don't let this discourage you or put you off from the idea, just take what I'm trying to give; Be prepared.