Apple has a worm

Two religious kids out for a jihad

San Bernadino D.A. Mike Ramos believes the Muslim jihadist Syed Farook's iPhone may have information on it that could uncover a possible third shooter in the December jihad massacre that killed 14 infidels. 

I know this description of the event may sound harsh, but that's exactly how the gunman and gunwoman viewed their "religious" mission.

Ramos filed an amicus curiae (aka: amicus brief) stating, "At the time that the murders were being perpetrated at least two 911 calls to the San Bernadino Police Dispatch center reported the involvement of three perpetrators."

The brief went on to add: "Although the reports of three individuals were no corroborated, and may ultimately be incorrect, the fact remains that the information contained solely on the seized iPhone could provide evidence to identify as of yet unknown co-conspirators who would be prosecuted for murder and attempted murder in San Bernadino County by the District Attorney."

Although it was confirmed that Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik did the shooting, the FBI has not ruled out the possibility of a third shooter being involved. Indeed, some eyewitnesses insisted there were three. One of those eyewitnesses, Sally Abedlmageed, said, "I know what I saw."

Ms. Abedlmageed doesn't seem to have an ax to grind.

Dead jihadists who murder innocent non-Muslims have zero privacy rights, and any evidence that can help us understand the situation and gather intelligence that may prevent further harm should be made available to law enforcement immediately. His phone can provide us with evidence of the crime, at the very least, and at best, prevent another one.

In any case, there may or may not be a third shooter, but what if the iPhone can provide data of another jihadist connection? Wouldn't that be a possible gold mine of intel?

The first officer on the scene, Lt. Michael Madden said he saw no evidence pointing to a third gunman. There's no doubt that such violence can cause people to see what may not be true. 

If you Google weapon focus effect, for example, it says:

Weapon focus is a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Weapon focus signifies a witness to a crime diverting his or her attention to the weapon the perpetrator is holding, thus leaving less attention for other details in the scene and leading to memory impairment later for those other details.

Now the issue is how intimate to the scene, the violent action, were the witnesses? If they believed their lives were in danger, then this phenomenon would apply. But if they didn't believe their lives were in danger, than their testimony is more believable.

Ramos tried another approach to get the iPhone opened for FBI search. He said in the filing the the phone "may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernadino County's infrastructure."

Ramos is probably referring to the possible existence of a "virus" or "worm" malware that would attack government computer networks and the like.

Apple does not need to change their system or be made to build something they don't want to build--that would be a form of slavery. All they need to do is a bypass of the password that, if tried and failed ten times would delete all phone data.

But Apple seems to have its own worm.

C'mon Tim Cook--do the right thing. If you don't, I'm trading in my iPhone for an android.
(Entire post written on a PC)


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