En un nuevo caso de gobierno involucrándose en el mundo tecnológico, ahora tenemos que Google recibió una orden del FBI para que Google coopere en un caso.
Primero que nada, la entrada del blog del investigador de seguridad y privacidad de la universidad de Indiana, en donde redacta lo que incluye una orden del FBI dirigida a Google.
FBI seeks warrant to force Google to unlock Android phone
Today, I stumbled across a recent FBI application and accompanying affidavit for a search warrant ordering Google to unlock a screen-locked Android phone. The application asks Google to: “provide law enforcement with any and all means of gaining access, including login and password information, password reset, and/or manufacturer default code (“PUK”), in order to obtain the complete contents of the memory” of a seized phone.
The phone in question was seized from a gentleman named Dante Dears, a founding member of the “Pimpin’ Hoes Daily” street gang. On January 17, 2012, a cellphone was seized from Dears by an FBI agent, who then obtained a search warrant to look through the device. According to the affidavit, the technicians at the FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab (RCFL) were unable to get past the electronic “pattern lock” access controls protecting the phone (apparently, entering multiple incorrect unlock sequences will lock the memory of the phone, which can then only be accessed by entering the user’s Gmail username and password).
So why is this interesting and noteworthy?
First, it suggests that the FBI’s computer forensics lab in Southern California is unable, or unwilling to use commercially available forensics tools or widely documented hardware-hacking techniques to analyze seized phones and download the data from them.
Second, it suggests that a warrant might be enough to get Google to unlock a phone. Presumably, this is not the first time that the FBI has requested Google unlock a phone, so one would assume that the FBI would request the right kind of order. However, we do not know if Google has complied with the request. Given that an unlocked smartphone will continue to receive text messages and new emails (transmitted after the device was first seized), one could reasonably argue that the government should have to obtain a wiretap order in order to unlock the phone.
Third, on page 13 of the warrant application, the government asks that the owner of the phone not be told about the government’s request to unlock his phone. It is surprising then that the warrant and the associated affidavit have not been sealed by the court.
En palabras cortas, el equipo en particular pertenece a un líder de una ganga llamada “Pimpin’ Hoes Daily” y tiene el cerrado a base de patrones de pasar el dedo en el touchscreen y el FBI no quiere arriesgarse a que el equipo cierre su memoria.
De parte de Google, van a cumplir cualquier orden, siempre y cuando esté dentro del plano legal y no necesariamente porque lo envié cualquier entidad.
En lo personal, el gobierno está abusando de su poder, y es fuerte que ellos deben tener su propio departamento de forense que no puedan hacer este tipo de trabajo y recurrir a su fabricante, me da mucho que desear.
Puedes ver la orden aquí.
