Privacy Promise From Apple Not Making Feds Happy
By KYW tech editor Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For some of those who've preordered it, or camped out to get it, Apple has an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus for you, starting today (though the company says demand has far outweighed supply, so it could be a while before you get your hands on one.)
But even older devices can take advantage of a new privacy push by Apple.
"Law enforcement needs these tools to do their jobs and be effective," says Ron Hosko -- former head of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division and former Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Philadelphia division.
But they won't get them anymore -- at least on iPhones and iPads that are upgraded to the newest operating system, iOS 8.
Apple is walling off the data on those devices so your passcode is the only key. That keeps out the company, and even the feds armed with a search warrant. Hosko says that puts police at a disadvantage:
"I can point to instances where we had to react very quickly to life-threatening situations. One of those more notable ones -- right at the end of my career a few months ago -- where our actions with a great number of people and great intensity saved a kidnap victim's life."
They did so using the digital information gleaned from a cell phone that, with iOS 8, they no longer can get their hands on.
Privacy advocates, however, are cheering Apple's new encryption policy for things like messages and photos.
Those that land on iCloud, though, are still fair game when the law can make a case for the need.