Category Archives: Military Laws

The latest and up to date news regarding military legal and law news and events.

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Legal News, Military Laws, Supreme Court

Legal Briefs Flood in to Support Apple

By JOSEPH PLAMBECK MARCH 4, 2016

Sourced From – http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/technology/legal-briefs-flood-in-to-support-apple.html?_r=0

The arguments differed, but the main message was the same: We side with Apple.

Dozens of companies and individuals have now filed briefs in support of Apple’s position in its legal battle with the F.B.I. over privacy. The official support, at this point, did not come as a particular surprise. But the variety of legal arguments was interesting nonetheless.

As Nick Wingfield reported, Apple’s supporters challenged “every legal facet of the government’s case, like its free speech implications, the importance of encryption and concerns about government overreach.”

The government will not take these arguments lightly. Expect many of them to be addressed when Apple and the Justice Department file briefs, and when the federal court holds a hearing on the matter in California on March 22.

Blog, Business Law, Civil Rights, Criminal, International, Legal News, Military Laws, Supreme Court

Apple’s clash with the FBI will be a tough legal fight

BY SERGIO HERNANDEZ & CHRISTINA WARREN

Apple may face an uphill climb in its latest fight with the feds over digital privacy.

The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, said in a statement on its website Wednesday that Apple opposes a federal court’s order to write special software so federal investigators can penetrate the passcode for an iPhone once used by Syed Farook.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were the perpetrators of a shooting spree in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2, which killed 14 people and injured 22 others. The shooters were later killed during a gunfight with police.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and lawyers from the Justice Department have said Farook’s phone, and iPhone 5C, may contain key evidence about his communications in the weeks before the attack, but they cannot access it without Farook’s passcode.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym issued the Apple order on Tuesday, after the local U.S. Attorney petitioned a federal court for Apple’s help.

FBI agents have been unable to access the phone’s contents because of security features built into the device’s software. Those include one that forces users to wait several minutes before entering different passcodes. Another erases a decryption key necessary to access the device’s data if a user enters a wrong passcode too frequently.

The judge’s order instructs Apple to write custom software, called a “Software Image File,” to bypass these security features so the FBI can quickly test an unlimited number of passcodes until it finds the right one. Once that as-yet-uncreated software is installed on the phone, security experts say it would take no more than a day to find the code.

News of the order triggered fierce debate last week as technologists wondered whether Apple can, as a matter of technical ability, comply with the demand, while privacy advocates said engineering such software could have dangerous security implications. Legal experts said it raises constitutional questions about how far the government can go when conscripting private, third parties to assist with law enforcement.

Cook’s statement, which indicated the company planned to fight the order in court, prompted the Justice Department to file a new motion on Friday, asking Pym to compel Apple to comply with her previous order.

Read Full Article – http://mashable.com/2016/02/21/apple-fbi-legal-issues/#Im3rLfAR_iq9

Blog, Criminal, Legal News, Military Laws, Organized Crime

Since Obama can’t handle ISIS, what say we outsource the job to the mafia?

POSTED AT 2:01 PM ON NOVEMBER 29, 2015 BY JAZZ SHAW

A significant majority of the country recently spoke up in a NY Times/CBS poll saying that they had essentially given up hope that the President was going to figure out what to do about the JV Team. These perceptions were likely buttressed a bit when the White House informed us that ISIS was largely “contained” just hours before they lit up Paris like a pinball machine. So maybe we need a new approach? Anonymous apparently declared war on the terrorists recently, though aside from ruining their credit rating I’m not sure exactly what they’re going to accomplish. But lo and behold, a new force is stepping up to the plate and may be positioned to do something a little more… forceful. It arrives in the person of Giovanni Gambino (yes, from those Gambinos) and if nothing else he seems to have the messaging right. (Apologies for NSFW language in graphic and several quotes to come.)

“These people are like walking machines. ISIS brainwashes them through the Internet,” Giovanni Gambino told Mic of the terrorist threat. “You need to beat the fuck out of them to the point where they stop coming back to life.”

Gambino, a prolific author of mob history and a scion of the family that saw the rise of the likes of John Gotti and Paul Castellano, said the nature of the mob made it fundamentally better equipped than traditional law enforcement to handle a threat like ISIS.

“Back in the day, probably the safest place ever was an old Sicilian neighborhood like Bensonhurst or Knickerbocker Ave.,” said Gambino of two Brooklyn neighborhoods. “We got our kids going to those schools. We got families in those neighborhoods.”

Read Full Article – http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/29/since-obama-cant-handle-isis-what-say-we-outsource-the-job-to-the-mafia/

Blog, International, Legal News, Military Laws

China urges U.S. against further provocation in S. China Sea

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — China on Tuesday urged the United States against further provocation in relation to the South China Sea.

“We urge the United States to […] not take any action that threatens China’s sovereignty and security,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.

Her remarks came in response to a question regarding comments by U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Monday, who said there would be more demonstrations of the U.S. military’s commitment to the right to freely navigate in the region.

According to media reports, the U.S. Navy plans to conduct patrols in the South China Sea about twice a quarter to remind China and other countries about U.S. rights under international law, said a U.S. defense official Monday on condition of anonymity.

Hua said China has always respected and safeguarded the freedom of navigation and overflight of various countries in accordance with international law, but strongly opposes any country using this as an excuse to damage China’s sovereignty and security.

She reiterated that China is firm in its determination and resolve to maintain its territorial sovereignty, security and legitimate maritime interests.

“We will resolutely respond to deliberate provocation from any country,” said the spokesperson, adding that China will closely monitor the situation.

The U.S. warship USS Lassen entered waters near Zhubi Reef last week, which is part of China’s Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, without the permission of the Chinese government.

In response, China has officially lodged a strong protest to the U.S. government, and expressed strong discontent and resolute opposition through various channels.

Full article – http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-11/03/c_134779998.htm