Maricopa County Att. bans employees from getting new iPhones, " Apple is 'on the side of terrorists"

[dixiegrrrrl]

As a result of Apple's refusal to help the FBI unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone, the Maricopa County, Ariz. Attorney's Office has announced that it will not allow workers to choose Apple's handsets as upgrades or replacements.
Apple's refusal to cooperate with a legitimate law enforcement investigation to unlock a phone used by terrorists puts Apple on the side of terrorists instead of on the side of public safety," said County Attorney Bill Montgomery in a prepared statement. "Positioning their refusal to cooperate as having anything to do with privacy interests is a corporate PR stunt and ignores the 4th Amendment protections afforded by our Constitution."

Montgomery added that prosecutors have regularly secured warrants to unlock encrypted smartphones, "including iPhones sold prior to the release of the iPhone 7."
It's not immediately clear why the office chose to refer to an as yet-unannounced handset.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/02/25/maricopa-county-attorney-bans-employees-from-getting-new-iphones-says-apple-is-on-the-side-of-terrorists?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Oh, yeah, just what we need, more of that either/or thinking.

[hifiguy]

1. Good grief, Charlie Brown

[HassleCat]

2. Arizona is close to Texas.

Some of weirdness seems to be leaking over the border.

[leftynyc]

12. Maricopa County

is where that repulsive sheriff arpaio keeps getting elected. They're imbeciles.

[phantom power]

3. of *course* it was Maricopa

[Kber]

4. Gotta assume this is a work only policy

And he isn't suggesting he can prohibit employees from buying an iPhone for personal use.

Right?

[saturnsring]

6. it's hard to tell any more

[saturnsring]

5. i thought the right didnt like big government

[flobee1]

11. And love the free market

[saturnsring]

15. and the freedom and liberty to buy what you want

[Downwinder]

7. Have we reached the pinnacle of human technological

development? Are Government and Religion gong to throttle any further advancement?

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I do hope they will at least leave us fire

so we can do cave paintings.

[Mendocino]

8. A bit off-subject,

Is the Phoenix area rw because of long time residents or is more because of conservatives from other parts of the country are moving to or retiring there?

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. I have no clue.

I DO know lots of Californians moved to Nevada and Arizona when housing costs were lower than in Cal.

Maybe someone from the area can tell us.

[Downwinder]

13. Both.

Maricopa County is based upon The Salt River Project, a socialist development to provide water and electricity.

[onehandle]

14. Republican elected in 2010. Year of the nuts. nt

[gd770226]

16. I don't see the problem here

This is for work related phones that the county would own. No expectations of privacy. As an IT person I do not think I would recommend purchasing equipment that you know could potentially be a problem. Lets say a user forgets their codes and the device needs to be unlocked by Apple and they want and are asking apple to do it, and apple won't or can't do it. I'm not sure I would want an apple product in that case.

DLP ( Data loss prevention ) is a big thing in IT. I don't think it a great strategy for apple to say that there isn't anything they can do. I wouldn't be suprised if my boss made a similar decision next time our work phones were ready for an upgrade/replacement.

And that is what is happening in the current case with the suspected terrorist in San Bernadino. Remember, the cell phone was his employers and the employer has given the OK to decrypt the phone. What if there was something on that phone that the county wanted?

[Solly Mack]

17. Freedom Phones. Because, America. Dammit!

[Major Nikon]

18. Make America great again! Buy Samsung!

[Solly Mack]

19. LMAO!