In interview after interview everyone is missing the point behind Apple's battle with the FBI

This is the next blog entry in what will be an ongoing series as the battle between Apple and the FBI continues. This is one of THE most important legal battles in the history of the United States and THE purpose behind my book and most of my writing.

Folk's, I'm growing very tired of listening to radio and TV interviews that are all missing the point behind Apple's battle with the FBI. It is certainly about privacy but that is just the Tip of the Iceberg. Here is something for you to think about as NPR and others only put lipstick on the FBI pig!

About 10 to 12 years ago the government passed legislation to ensure that customers private, personal, and financial information, which is collected and manipulated by corporations, is to remain as secure as possible under penalty of prosecution.

Apple, in direct response to that concept, created an operating system that explicitly complies with the heart and soul of that mandate. As a result, Apple, itself, cannot even access that data on the person's device, a phone.

The government has now mandated that Apple violate that principle by writing code against that security which, after it is written, has no reasonable guarantee that such code would remain under the control of responsible users. The case in point is Edward Snowden, who the NSA thought would not violate the secrecy of the NSAs violation of data gathering without due process.

If the government (NSA) cannot protect its own dirty secrets (The Atom bomb, the Hydrogen bomb and so on), how will the government (FBI) protect the code they had the courts mandate to be written? How is Apple going to protect itself from prosecution when that release ultimately happens? Catch 22.

Even if Apple is not ever prosecuted does every United States citizen want to surrender all the data they store on their smartphones to the Russian mafia or the Chinese syndicates? This last sentence is something you won't hear any radio or TV interview mention!

Apple fights an unprecedented battle! The U.S. government threatens what is left of the security and privacy of every U.S. Citizen!

Folks, since I wrote my book "The Internet is Infected!" we just seem to continue down the path to the total destruction of privacy for any U.S. citizen. Apple computer has launched a battle that the average U.S. citizen does not understand. (See: https://www.apple.com/customer-letter, http://thatcybersecurityguy.com/TIIICEChapter5.html) I'm hoping this blog entry will aid them in their battle with the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) U.S. government. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi)  (See: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-vs-fbi-where-does-everyone-stand-163132527.html)

Taken from my book:

On July 11, 2014 in an interview with the Guardian, William Binney, a 30-year veteran of the intelligence community stated the following as fact; "At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US… At least 80% of fiber-optic cables globally go via the US… This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in... The NSA lies about what it stores… The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control…" William Binney resigned from the NSA on October 31, 2001 because he was disgusted by Washington's move towards mass surveillance. The difference between Binney and Snowden was his high rank and that he did not take any documents as proof with him. From that time forward, he has been an outspoken critic of the NSA's unnecessary mass surveillance stating, "it's better than anything that the KGB, the Stasi, or the Gestapo and SS ever had!" He likes to mock the NSA by pointing out such things as how the NSA's mass gathering of data did not stop 9/11, missed Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the Islamic States' take-over of Iraq and has stopped zero terror attacks inside the US. Because of his vocal criticism he has been persecuted with investigations, had his home raided by the FBI who also took his computer and backup disks, had his security clearance revoked, which forced him to close a profitable $300,000 a year business and spend $7,000 on legal fees.  In his Guardian interview he laid down the gauntlet by saying, "There are no other views for the judges to consider. There have been at least 15-20 trillion constitutional violations for US domestic audiences and you can double that globally.  I call people who are covering up NSA crimes traitors." Binney expressed publically on CBN in July 2014 that the ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control. He also stated that Internal Revenue Service has "direct access" to the NSA's domestic spying data and was likely using it to target the tea party.  (See:  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/11/the-ultimate-goal-of-the-nsa-is-total-population-control, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/August/Whistleblower-NSA-Goal-Is-Total-Population-Control)

As you now know, any email sent via any major email provider is screened automatically by intelligence services. Most people in the U.S. I have met say "so what, let them screen me because I have nothing to hide". This is because they and their ancestors never experienced the Soviet Stasi excesses during Communist rule. A common joke in Germany is "Why, despite all the shortages, is toilet paper in eastern Germany two-ply? Because they have to send a copy of everything they do to Russia." German courts are blocking the implementation of the EU Data Retention Directive, and they have ruled against Google's data gathering practices. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated "These two values – freedom and security – to a certain extent are and always have been at odds with one another. The proper balance needs to be struck again and again by means of the law. The end does not justify the means. Not everything that is technically possible should also be permissible." Western citizens in the U.S. do not understand how violations in their privacy can be exploited or how providing this information can come back to haunt them.

Gpg4win is Windows encryption software supported by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Because of the expressed German outrage over the NSA scandal, we can have a high degree of certainty that there are no U.S. backdoors built into this open source software. However, the source code is freely available, and you can rest assured it has been studied and perhaps broken by some very smart NSA folks. Gpg4win is actually a suite of encryption utilities bundled together that will be installed on your Windows computer. From the Gpg4win website those utilities are:

• GnuPG - The core; this is the actual encryption tool.
• Kleopatra - A certificate manager for OpenPGP and X.509 (S/MIME) and common crypto dialogs.  (See:  http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdepim/kleopatra/kleopatra.pdf)
• GPA - An alternative certificate manager for OpenPGP and X.509 (S/MIME).
• GpGOL - A plugin for Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007/2010/2013 (email encryption).
• GpgEX - A plugin for Microsoft Explorer (file encryption).
• Claws Mail - A complete email application with crypto support.
• Gpg4win Compendium - The documentation (for beginner and advanced users), available in English and German.

The Gpg4win Compendium documentation is an excellent reference for learning about their software, how email message encryption works and much more. Their encryption software is designed to integrate well with Microsoft Outlook using their GpGOL plugin. However, using other email clients is a bit more difficult, but easily mastered. Since many of you are probably not using Outlook, I decided to only present a simple solution using the Gpg4win Claws Mail client. Rather than repeat what is in Gpg4win's documentation, the following example is intended as a quick step-by-step guide to get you started. I chose to present only OpenPGP message encryption in Gpg4win because by using this method you can practice generating key pairs exchanging your public key with Gpg4win's automated practice server. I have found that many people are intimidated by this technology, and having a tool where you can practice without repercussions should make things fun and easy. For example, posting a public key on a public key server or saying something incorrect on technical forum can invite some hostile criticism and attacks from knowledgeable computer professionals. I highly encourage you to read Gpg4win manual at http://www.gpg4win.org/doc/en/gpg4win-compendium.html, which details everything you need to know about encrypting messages, files, setting up certificates and much more. If you are a SBO you will need to study and pay close attention to the certificates portions of the manual. Setting up, registering and using certificates is a somewhat complex topic that I chose not to cover in my book. It is important to an SBO, but has little or no significance to an HCU. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gpg4win) Buy my books for the rest...

You have it within your power to turn back these draconian invasions into our privacy. Support Apple in their fight for your privacy. Encryption is simply a method of encoding information that makes it more difficult for someone to view if our files or messages are intercepted. Mankind has been employing, developing and using encryption for thousands of years, and it is time we all do so safely when using our infected Internet. Encryption seems like a lost art to the common person, but it need not be. This skill is mandatory to develop to be able to survive in today’s digital world. If you want to keep the data that you exchange with your business partners or family secure, it is essential that you master this skill.