Hector Martin

Think about it this way: the fact that Apple has oppses the FBI order means *that* iPhone is secure without their help and *isn't* with it.

In other words, there are security configurations that *rely* on Apple to not subvert the system. In an ideal design, that wouldn't happen.

Which in turn means that their "we can't unlock iPhones even if compelled to" narrative has, at best, a metric ton of asterisks.

@marcan42 Devil's advocate for a sec here: Wouldn't pushing a new FW update that enabled some backdoor qualify as Apple helping?

@jchillerup Exactly, that is the threat model they're trying to avoid discussing (and what the FBI is asking them to do).

@jchillerup It *is* possible to design a system secure against that (think: firmware updates require passcode, in a secure way).

@marcan42 Not without sacrificing their own power to push automatically installed firmware updates, which IMO is unlikely to ever happen.