Apple is not above the court's order

A retired general friend made a statement about security and freedom that really grabbed my attention.

We were in a government meeting and he made this point: The more secure we want to be, the more freedom we give away.

It makes sense. Either we rely on ourselves and be free or we rely on the government and give up some of our freedom. 

I have been watching the fight between Apple and the government over retrieving information on a terrorist’s iPhone with great interest. I have hesitated to weigh in because of the technical issues with the iPhone which I don’t understand, but after hearing Apple CEO Tim Cook expound on ABC-TV about the issue, I feel I must. 

It’s not a technical issue at all. It’s about our desire to be secure and our desire for privacy. 

Cook’s point seems to be that if Apple writes the bit of code needed to open that one iPhone, it will be like inserting “cancer” (his word) into an Apple product. 

Now, aside from being offended at his choice of words (which I was), the issue is this: Do we not have search and seizure laws in place? 

Before police can search my home or car, a judge has to issue a search warrant. 

A judge has issued a ruling that Apple cooperate with the government and provide a means for the content of that phone to be known to law enforcement officials. It is no different than a judge issuing a search warrant. 

An FBI official has said the government does not want a code so they can run about, willy-nilly, searching people’s phones. They want the ability to get a search warrant and find out what suspected criminals are doing on their phones. 

I understand the problem. The government has eavesdropped on thousands of people, finding out what numbers they were calling or receiving calls from. Bad news. 

But this is completely different. 

I am just as concerned about Cook’s attitude that Apple is so big it can thumb its nose at the courts as I am concerned about personal freedom and unreasonable search and seizure. 

If we want to be secure, then we have to live under the rule of law.  

Going retro in tech is cool!

Ready to go retro? Retro tech, I mean.

It seems many people are not ready to pay the price for the latest and greatest and tech, especially when there are so many items available that were "the latest and greatest" at one time.

Take national defense, for example.

It would seem that some of the nations in the world are investing in retro tech instead of the latest and great thing to come from Microsoft or Apple or even Google.

The Portable One website cites "The Guardian" newspaper from the United Kingdom as saying "most nuclear deterrent systems operated by the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, are run using a variant, or several thereof, of Microsoft Windows XP as the operating system, and even older systems."

So, while Microsoft pushes us to upgrade our home computer systems to Windows 10 and while Apple pushes our company to upgrade our Macintosh computers to the latest and greatest version of the Apple operating system, "El Capitan," the world's leaders are sticking with, not the latest, not the operating system before that, but with Windows XP as the platform to run their nuclear deterrent systems on.

Long ago in tech years (probably six months ago)  we were told we had to ditch Windows XP because Microsoft wouldn't support it any longer. Apparently, it runs just fine without Windows support.

Take the high cost of the new Samsung and Apple smartphones.

I wrote a column not long ago saying I wouldn't pay $30 per month for 30 months ($900) for a smartphone and it still goes.

But, I went to an AT&T retailer and found a ZTE smartphone and an Asus tablet that works on the cellular data network for about $50 total cost. For both.

No, it's not the latest and greatest but it does every bit as well as the smartphone my new phone replaced and I have a new tablet as well.

We're even going retro- tech for entertainment.

We dusted off an old Atari 2600. Guess what,  "Ms. Pacman" and "Missile Defender" and the other games are just as much fun as they ever were.

Have we "advanced" so far that retro tech is cool?

Being Frank About Podcasts

Why can't someone create a decent podcast catcher for PCs?
Apple users have iTunes (more on that in a moment.) There is Doggcatcher and my favorite, Pocket Casts for Android.
But for some reason, if I want to use a program to gather podcast episodes I have to return to iTunes.
I used Media Monkey and uninstalled it repeatedly over the past 15 years. Yeah, I know -- it shows I'm a slow learner. I have tried other "podcast aggregators" for PC and was not satisfied with any of them.
So, tonight I reinstalled iTunes.
I have an iPod Classic so I will sink files to it, but it is aggravating that no one can write a program and create a podcast aggregator that will work as elegantly as iTunes!
I know, iTunes can be used on a PC and that is fine but I think Apple computers are over priced and do the same job as PCs that are much more cost effective. Trust me, I have seen Macintosh computers crash time and again, so I do not accept the idea Apple products are superior to PC products.
OK, so that's my rant on a Sunday night. Now I can go to bed, knowing I have spoken my mind ... and that I am catching podcasts using iTunes and there will be no crashes and the shows will be available tomorrow.