On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 1:07 PM, Walters, Caroline J. (cw8de) <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I saw a report that the phone was purchased and provided by the San
> Bernardino Health Department to their employee, and the Health Department
> has approved the search of the phone by the FBI.
>
> So if in terms of records issues, if you provided a phone to your employee
> and the employee died (while not killing a bunch of his co-workers) would
> it not seem reasonable for the health department to be the owner of the
> phone and data - even though they may not have the access code for the
> phone?
>

*IF* the phone truly belonged to the employer and it was assigned to the
employee, then YES, they own it.  But that doesn't mean they have the
passcode.  As for the "data", that depends on the conditions under which
the phone was assigned to the employee.  Assigned phones here are the
property of the employer, and they have full rights to the data on
them....  but they don't have the passcodes.  If they request the phone to
be returned to them, the employee is obligated to unlock it first, and
assign a code of "1111" to the phone.   In this case, (obviously) that
couldn't happen.



> Should not Apple have the ability to reset the passcode and provide the
> information to the owner of the phone - in this case the health department?
>

Apple is NOT ABLE to access the passcode once the user assigns one.
Currently, after 8 attempts to enter an incorrect code, the phone shuts off
for 15 minutes. After 10 atrtempts, it shuts off for na hour.  After 15
attempts, it wipes the phone clean. Period.


Beyond this case, this is a real question as more public agencies are
> purchasing mobile devices for their employees - who is the Apple customer?
> Is it the agency/company that buys the device or the user of that device?
>
> I would assume that the health department as the purchaser of the phone -
> which should be easy to confirm - would be the owner of the data. Therefore
> Apple is denying access to the owner of the data.
>

All 'companies' have use agreements for employees when it comes to assigned
technology- phones, computers, whatever.   Those agreements spell out the
policies under which employees are granted permission for use of the
devices, and it's up to the company to clearly state in the policy what
happens when the agreement "terminates".  Unless companies mandate the
passcode to be used for phones and that employees are NOT ALLOWED to change
them, in instances such as this, they can't gain access to the contents.


-- 
Larry
[log in to unmask]



*----Lawrence J. MedinaDanville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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