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Wednesday February 17, 2016

// February 17th, 2016 // Comments Off on Wednesday February 17, 2016 // Daily News

Order to hack iPhone for FBI ‘chilling’: Tim Cook

CNBC.com

A U.S. magistrate’s order that Apple help the FBI access an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists is “chilling” and is essentially asking the U.S. tech giant to “hack” its own users, Chief Executive Tim Cook said.
In a letter to customers on Wednesday, Cook said he opposes a “dangerous” court order.
“The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand,” Cook said.
“The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data.”
Cook said the government could “extend this breach of privacy” to demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept messages, access health records or financial data, track location or access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.
The CEO’s comments were in response to a court order that Apple help the FBI break into the iPhone 5C used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Federal Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym said that Apple must provide “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI, which would require the U.S. technology firm to overhaul the system that disables the phone after 10 unsuccessful password attempts.
The case marks one of the highest-profile clashes in the debate over encryption. Law enforcement authorities say that encryption used by the likes of Apple makes it harder for them to solve cases and stop terrorist attacks. Technology firms have kicked back, saying that encryption is key to protecting user data from hackers, a point Cook reinforces in his letter.
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik.
Who is right: Apple or the government?
Encryption on an iPhone means that only a passcode can be used to access the data such as pictures or messages. If someone enters a wrong passcode, the device will automatically erase all of the data. Not even Apple can access the lost data.
Cook said the FBI request means it is asking Apple to create software that does not actually exist and the company would not even be able to do so.
“Now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone,” Cook said.
“Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
In the wake of revelations in 2013 by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about the extent of U.S. spying, technology companies moved to bolster their security and introduced encryption by default onto their services and devices to reassure users that their data were safe from prying eyes.

Today’s Inspiration

Prudence

by Joyce Meyer – posted February 17, 2016

I, Wisdom [from God], make prudence my dwelling, and I find out knowledge and discretion.
—Proverbs 8:12

A word you don’t hear very much teaching about is “prudence.” In the Scriptures “prudence” or “prudent” means being good stewards of the gifts God has given us to use. Those gifts include abilities, time, energy, strength, and health, as well as material possessions. They include our bodies, as well as our minds and spirits.

God has given each of us different gifts and grace according to how He wants us to use them. One person may be gifted to sing and does so in their local area, while another person’s singing ability is known in most of the world. The Bible tells us to use our gifts according to the grace given to us (see Romans 12:6).

Each of us would be wise to know how much we are able to handle, to be able to recognize when we are reaching “full capacity” or “overload.” Instead of pushing ourselves into overload to please others, satisfy our own desires, or reach our personal goals, we can learn to listen to the Lord and obey Him. If we follow the Lord’s leading, we will enjoy blessed lives.

We all experience stress and at times we feel the effects of it, but we should learn to manage it well. Ask God to show you areas in your life that could be changed to help you eliminate excess stress better.

Wednesday February 10, 2016

// February 10th, 2016 // Comments Off on Wednesday February 10, 2016 // Daily News

Ash Wednesday

n the Ash Wednesday message
I hear that time is short and you need to figure out who you are what you’re
about and offer yourself in relationship to God. In clearer language Jesus
calls us to authenticity. But emerging as the authentic me is a hard journey.

I don’t think it is a hard
journey because we are naturally duplicitous or that we are naturally hypocrites.
I think one of the reasons it is hard is because sometimes we are naturally
unconscious. We are unaware that there are dimensions to us that we have yet to
explore or yet to unleash or that we even need to explore. If you are like me
the alarm may have to go off two or three times before I really wake up in the
morning. Fortunately Lent comes around every year saying wake up.

It is a hard Journey because
sometimes we don’t like what we see. We would rather live with the myth of who
we are, rather than the reality. I have recently started reading a book called
the Twenty Five Books that Shaped America. Fortunately for you I am only three
chapters into it but each book so far has talked about one or more of the
mythic character types that have shaped our American identity.

The first was Benjamin
Franklin’s Autobiography. While there was some of the historic Franklin present
in the book, mostly Jefferson offers himself as an iconic image of what an
exemplary American would be. It is just as we might try to project ourselves as
an exemplary employee, teacher, business person…It leads me to note that the
difference between a biography and an auto biography is that a biography tells me
who the world thinks I am and in an auto biography I tell you who I want the
world to think I am. Neither is called a reality.

The second book is the Last
of the Mohicans. The lead character is described as “all sinew, endurance,
woodscraft, warcraft, instinct, and power.” This gives ride to the silent male
hero. The cowboy who is more comfortable with his thought and his horse than he
is with the girl in town, the solitary soldier or spy or whatever type of hero
we want to cast. Giving us commands such
as never show weakness never let them see you sweat and surely never let them
see you cry. So yes we are a society
with some iconic types that are anything but a fully integrated self -capable
of a full relationship with God or others.

It is a hard journey because
I am often very comfortable with my status quo; my mix of good and bad habits.
My self-image, the way I perceive myself and the way I want to be perceived. This
is a bit of an exaggeration but unfortunately not much of one. Every morning
when I look in the mirror I am for a moment confused because in my self-image I
am twenty five and about 40 pounds thinner with more hair.

Fortunately I have a wife and
Jesus both who say, “Get real.”

So Lent comes along and
offers us a time to get real

In the called to a holy lent
we are called to self examination and repentance – Self examination means to
take a real look at ourselves, an honest look and that look means that there
are some things we want to repent of which really means to turn away from. But
I hope in that self examination we will also find some things we want to turn
toward and embrace. Our higher and better self is also in there to be
discovered and celebrated.

In the called to a holy lent
we are called to prayer, fasting and self denial. This really means to spend
some time alone with our selves and with God. It is amazing that we keep
inventing ways in which we never have to be alone. My TV has what seems to me
to be an endless number of channels that run 24/7. I have my computer, my radio, my cd player,
my phone, all of which can talk to me and keep me from being alone. We can say
to ourselves I was just at prayer Sunday which is good but mean the kind prayer
where we are alone with God. IN an
interview many years ago a reporter asked Mother Theresa about how she prayed.
She says when I pray I sit and listen. The reporter then asks, “What does God
do? She replied that God mostly sits and listens. It is almost frightful to
dare to think of sitting and listening in the presence of God.

Fasting and self denial is
about discovering that these things beyond us have more power over us than we
admit and it is about striving to be released from that power. Through fasting
and self denial we can come to realize the strength of our desire for food or
alcohol or drugs and then find the strength to break that control and discover
freedom in God.

Reading and meditating on
God’s word – and finally the word the scripture. I find it very illuminating to
ask very simple questions when I am reading scripture. Just two questions,
Where am I in this story? What does this message have to say to me? And if your
answer is always I don’t see myself in that story I don’t hear a message for me
you are not looking deep enough or listening hard enough.

All this is about finding our
true selves to offer to God.

So what about Jesus

Jesus is the one who calls us
to our true self, our higher self our better self.

And most importantly Jesus is
the one who loves us long before we ever get there and who makes it safe for us
to try.

So hear the call of Lent. The
call to get real.

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