Debate | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 19 Apr 2016 11:43:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Debate | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Bill Gates clarifies privacy stance: no one is an ‘absolutist’ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/bill-gates-clarifies-privacy-stance-no-one-is-an-absolutist/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/bill-gates-clarifies-privacy-stance-no-one-is-an-absolutist/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2016 10:25:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=289834 Bill Gates drew some condemnation when he voiced support for the FBI's desire to break into the iPhone of the San Bernardino attacker. However he has now clarified his position, saying nobody is in just one camp when it comes to privacy vs. security and that if the government ever does read peoples' emails, it …

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Bill Gates drew some condemnation when he voiced support for the FBI's desire to break into the iPhone of the San Bernardino attacker. However he has now clarified his position, saying nobody is in just one camp when it comes to privacy vs. security and that if the government ever does read peoples' emails, it should have to tell them so.

“There probably are some cases where (the government) should be able to go in covertly and get information about a company’s email,” Gates said at a Reuters event in Washington. But in reality, he said, “it shouldn't be a matter of course, where there is a gag order automatically put in.”

Gates would like to see companies be given the option to warn consumers in some cases, to let them know that their communications were being investigated. This would allow for a middle ground which would improve the relationship between law enforcement and the tech firms they are coming to rely on much more, he feels.

bill

Bill often poses next to his name, just in-case you forgot. Source: TNS Softres/Flickr

This is an important point for Gates, who has championed better cooperation between commercial firms and governments around the world, through the Bill and Melinda Gates organisation. Fostering that collaboration is what has made it such a success, so he wants to see a similar relationship develop between technology companies and the government.

But that, he said, would require discourse on the type of middle ground that could be reached. Privacy advocates would need to accept some level of government intrusion, but in the same breath, the government must allow for citizens to have their privacy. Ideally, he wants them to all build a new legislative framework to base the future of the privacy/security debate around.

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KitGuru Says: This seems to be the position most hold: that if warrants and given out through the court system, there's no problem with looking at communications. What privacy campaigners have an issue with, is mass spying before any evidence against those being tracked and recorded. 

 

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FBI backs out of Apple hearing, says crack may be possible https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/fbi-backs-out-of-apple-hearing-says-crack-may-be-possible/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/fbi-backs-out-of-apple-hearing-says-crack-may-be-possible/#respond Tue, 22 Mar 2016 10:31:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=287532 Apple and the FBI were set to start hashing things out in court today after the company refused to comply with an order to help the FBI access an iPhone owned by a criminal. This sparked quite a debate over encryption but it looks like the FBI may no longer need Apple's help after all …

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Apple and the FBI were set to start hashing things out in court today after the company refused to comply with an order to help the FBI access an iPhone owned by a criminal. This sparked quite a debate over encryption but it looks like the FBI may no longer need Apple's help after all and backed out of today's court hearing late last night.

The Bureau says that it was contacted by a third-party at the eleventh hour who outlined a way that the FBI could crack into the iPhone.

iPone-SE-e1458586318185

The FBI is ‘cautiously optimistic' about its chances of getting into the iPhone without Apple's help but it will need time to figure out whether or not it can be done without compromising what data is left on the device. The motion to delay today's hearing was filed on Sunday but was only reported late last night after Apple's product announcement event.

“On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case”, the motion reads.

This all follows on from Snowden's comments last week, outlining how the FBI could crack the iPhone without risking the data.

KitGuru Says: It seems that the FBI and Apple won't be butting heads in court for a little while longer. That said, the FBI's current method of cracking the iPhone may not stick around forever at which point, we could be back to square one with this case. 

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Kim Dotcom debates MPAA on Megaupload live on air https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-debates-mpaa-on-megaupload-live-on-air/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-debates-mpaa-on-megaupload-live-on-air/#respond Fri, 11 Apr 2014 09:55:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=186972 Kim Dotcom and the MPAA are two legally represented entities that have been circling each other, locking horns and disengaging for years now, taking swings in the court and the papers but in all but a few cases, they've had lawyers buffering their commentary. However following on from the lobby groups' recent filing of copyright …

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Kim Dotcom and the MPAA are two legally represented entities that have been circling each other, locking horns and disengaging for years now, taking swings in the court and the papers but in all but a few cases, they've had lawyers buffering their commentary. However following on from the lobby groups' recent filing of copyright infringement claims ahead of the extradition trial, Radio New Zealand managed to get a representative from the MPAA on the phone at the same time as Dotcom, giving them both a chance to live debate with one another, the full audio of which can be heard over at TorrentFreak.

Initially the MPAA lawyer, general counsel Steven Fabrizio, didn't realise Dotcom was on the line and spent the first few minutes making claims about the intent of Megaupload as a file locker, suggesting that it was a site that was designed to benefit from copyright infringement, did so and ultimately rewarded file sharers for distributing content that was of a size comparable with ripped and pirated movies. “Megaupload was never a file storage locker,” he said. “From its birth to its death, it was designed to benefit from copyright infringement.”

However when Dotcom was allowed to make his rebuttal, he denied all of these claims, pointing out that Megaupload had specific tools in place to prevent the spread of illegal file sharing, in-fact limiting the rewards to consumers, to only hand them out in the case of sharing files smaller than 100 megabytes, far too small for the average film. He also denied claims that his company had deleted files from free users if they weren't viewed enough.

pirates
No word on what the MPAA plans to do with these notorious pirates

The final argument put forward by Fabrizio, was that Megaupload staff were pirates themselves and referred to themselves as such around the office, perhaps alluding to the MPAA's perusal of internal company emails; evidence that Dotcom is not allowed to view. Again, when giving the chance to address the issue, Dotcom responded with outright denial, suggesting that Fabrizio was entirely mistaken.

“One of our employees who was admin staff and a developer has chatted with our CTO and he watched a documentary called Pirates of Silicon Valley. That was a movie about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and how they stole the ideas from each other,” Dotcom said.

“He then made this remark to [the CTO] saying we are modern-day pirates, comparing himself to the attitude those guys had, simply because they were copying from each other and we were copying from our competitors and vice versa,” he added.

Fabrizio's response was derisive, suggesting that Dotcom could say whatever he liked on the radio, since he wasn't limited to the truth. Of course that goes both ways.

When asked why he wouldn't voluntarily travel to the US by the interviewer/mediator, Dotcom explained that he had previously offered to do so if he was given access to his frozen assets and accounts, which the Department of Justice refused.

KitGuru Says: Quite an interesting face off, but it's clear talking between the parties isn't going to settle anything. The MPAA claims that Megaupload's ‘intention' was always to pirate. Since that can't be proved either way, it remains with the courts to decide whether copyright infringement or at least conspiracy to commit copyright infringement actually took place on the part of the file locker or simply its user base. 

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