Cook et al Dig In Heels in iPhone Encryption Battle

CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday took Apple's battle with the FBI directly to the public, penning an open letter in defense of the company's resistance to a court order mandating it to create a way to access data in the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorists.

A federal magistrate issued the order because the high level of encryption built into the device had impeded the FBI's investigation.

Cook called for a public discussion of the issues surrounding Apple's objections to the demand, noting that the FBI was asking Apple, in essence, to create a backdoor that would unlock an encrypted iPhone.

That type of technology could threaten the privacy of all iPhone users, he argued.

"The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake," Cook wrote. "Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control."

Tool to Thwart Terrorists

U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino shootings, introduced legislation calling on technology companies to assist the government by preventing terrorists from using social media and other technologies

Apple should comply with the judge's order to develop a means for unencrypting the San Bernardino shooters' iPhone, she said, joining a chorus of agreement among government and law enforcement officials.

"The U.S. Attorney should be able to fully investigate the San Bernardino terrorist attack that killed 14 Californians, and that includes access to the terrorist's phone," Feinstein said.

"I understand there are privacy concerns, but in this case the phone is owned by the county -- which has consented to a search -- and there is a valid search warrant," she pointed out.

The problem appears to be that such a technological solution likely wouldn't be limited to a single use.

"Essentially, the government is asking Apple to create a master key so that it can open a single phone," said Kurt Opsahl, deputy executive director and general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "And once that master key is created, we're certain that our government will ask for it again and again, for other phones, and turn this power against any software or device that has the audacity to offer strong security."

Dangerous and Unconstitutional

The order is "unlawful, unprecedented and unwise," said American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Alex Abdo.

"The Constitution does not permit the government to force companies to hack into their customer's devices," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Apple is free to offer a phone that stores information securely, and it must remain so if consumers are to retain any control over their private data."

The government request sets a dangerous precedent, Abdo suggested, because if the FBI can order Apple to create a means to access the encrypted data on a customer's device, any repressive government around the world could have the same expectation.

The ACLU is aware of at least 70 instances in which the government has used the All Writs Act to get Apple to unlock older phones, he said, noting that Apple had the software to help people who forgot their passcodes.

However, with the newer versions of iOS, Apple does not have that capability, Abdo noted.

The ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get additional information on the earlier government requests.

Fight For the Future has scheduled a protest for Feb. 23, asking iPhone users and civil liberties advocates to rally at Apple Stores across the country.

"Governments have been frothing at the mouth hoping for an opportunity to pressure companies like Apple into building backdoors into their products to enable more sweeping surveillance," said Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future. "It's shameful that they're exploiting the tragedy in San Bernardino to push that agenda."

The group, which in 2014 rallied for Net neutrality in 20 U.S. cities, has launched a Facebook page calling for supporters to protest the court order and support Apple's fight against the FBI demand.

Yahoo Sets Itself Up for Buyout

Yahoo on Friday announced that it has hired banking advisers and formed a committee to explore its strategic alternatives, the latest indication that the struggling company is serious about pursuing a possible sale.

The committee, along with advisers Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and PJT Partners, will identify and recommend to the board of directors transactions that it deems beneficial to employees and shareholders.

"All of us here at Yahoo want to return this iconic company to greatness," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said. "We can best achieve this by working with the committee to pursue various strategic alternatives while, in parallel, aggressively executing our strategic plan to strengthen our growth businesses and improve efficiency and profitability."

One possible suitor is Verizon Communications. CEO Lowell McAdam told Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money earlier this month that his company wouldconsider buying Yahoo.

The company announced earlier this month that it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce.

Yahoo shares climbed 2.3 percent to $30.09 in Friday trading, but they remain down more than 30 percent over the last 12 months.

Yahoo Performance

Google had about 63.8 percent of the desktop search engine market share, while Yahoo trailed with just 12.4 percent, coming in third place after Bing, a comScoreqSearch report published last month found.

The rankings affect how tech companies use Yahoo in their dealings with clients and applications in business, according to Gustavo Morais, chief creative officer at ST8 Creative Solutions.

"If you're talking about search engine marketing between Yahoo and Google, Yahoo represents a very small portion of the search landscape. It's a smaller search engine," he told E-Commerce Times.

"I really don't know who is using Yahoo. I don't use it. But they did have a presence at one point, and they're older than Google. But like MySpace, they got disintegrated. I think this might be a branding problem more than anything else," Morais said.

Lack of Insight

Yahoo's problems stem from a combination of complacency and being company-focused rather than client-focused, said Stephen M. Rapier, a marketing professor at Pepperdine University who has worked with companies to provide Internet marketing strategy.

In his experience with Yahoo, the company made some major missteps in its growth, including changing a significant piece of the search-engine optimization and marketing puzzle, he told the E-Commerce Times.

"I used to buy online keyword programs for my clients, and what I found was a good, true, fair system. I knew where we were in relation to other bids, and I knew what position we would have. And then at some point in the later 2000s, it seemed like they tried to modify it to do what Google was doing, which didn't seem as fair," Rapier said.

"The turnoff to me was that it got very complicated. We had to do webinars and other things to learn how to use the new system. So I basically transferred all our accounts to Google and I never went back," he said.

Yahoo lacks an understanding of customer needs, Rapier said.

"Everything in the marketing out here continually changes at some pace or another," he noted. "A lot of times, executives reach a certain pinnacle and assume it's going to continue on like that forever. So if a company is really innovating and it has a culture that rewards innovation, I think they have a greater chance of being successful than people who find it difficult to change the needle at all."