False dichotomy is false. They didn't have to do this, and by all accounts, received nothing of value for the money.

> by all accounts, received nothing of value for the money

How can you know that?

come on do all internet comments have to be perfect? how about "by all public accounts to date".

I'd have though that extra context wasn't necessary.

> I'd have though that extra context wasn't necessary.

New to the internet?

Unless you lawyer every possible comment against the most uncharitable reading while combining it with the kind of source research that would make a Harvard law professor weep a tear of joy you'll get called on it.

The point is that the people who would be in a position to provide concrete evidence one way or another are very unlikely to make a public account. "All public accounts to date" that I know of are basically hearsay.

Next time, just link:

https://pchiusano.github.io/2014-10-11/defensive-writing.htm...

I was just being charitable. If I had to bet, he has no idea and no way of knowing (because the FBI isn't going to go around disclosing whatever intel they got from the phone). But maybe he had a way of knowing, so I asked. Turns out he didn't.

>>How can you know that?

We can't. That's the problem! The government just spend a million fucking dollars to access a phone's contents, and we have no idea if it was worth it. This lack of accountability is what's causing them to flaunt civil liberties so brazenly and shamelessly. If cornered, they always use the "it's a matter of national security!" excuse.

You should look into Pentagon procurement, especially for the big projects like the F-35. Eisenhower would weep.

I can't KNOW it, which is why I said, "By all accounts".

According to their own account they did get their money's worth:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/19/politics/san-bernadino-iphone-...

The fact that the FBI have confirmed there were no contacts with other ISIS members is valuable information.

They have not confirmed that at all. Should any such contact have existed, it would have been through the destroyed personal phones.

Yes, you're right. See my reply to djrogers.

Don't they have a tool to get into other iPhone's now?

$1,000,000 doesn't seem too bad.

Not necessarily, they might not own the tool, just paid for someone to use it on the phone.

The subtitle quote indicates that the tool was bought outright.

AFAIK, the exploit only works on older iphones. It'll quickly lose value going forward.

You can't put a price on national security. Never mind, they just did and they got to define national security as well.

There is no indication that it wasn't what had been claimed they could always do, and that's physically clone NAND gates. Remember, the FBI wasn't after data in the first place, they were after a legal precedent.