This case should really be open and shut at this point. The real question is, what happens next in Obama's office, the DOJ and among the American public? Obam

This case should really be open and shut at this point. The real question is, what happens next in Obama's office, the DOJ and among the American public? Obama has already tried to get Congress to give him legislation that would force tech companies to be able to give user data to the government [1]. It's slow going. I don't think we'll see that bill this month. Presumably, after that bill was delayed last year, he then directed the DOJ to go to court over these issues with Apple. I predict that fails. The President has already alluded to the future in his remarks at SXSW. In his view, after the next terrorist attack, Congress will rush through legislation and it will be ugly. At that point, we will be depending largely on the public's understanding of computer technology and encryption so that we can respond with an even hand. If people support encryption and let their representatives know, then we are good. But if they remain uninformed, there is a possibility that they will feel passing an anti-encryption bill would make them safer from terrorism. Let's examine a possible future where the case is won by Apple and in the future there is a terrorist attack that used encryption to accomplish its goals. What will happen? Will law enforcement point the finger at technologists? Will they claim we enabled the attack by blocking legislation that, in their view, would have solved the "going dark" problem they claim they face? Further, how will the public respond? There is still currently 42% of the population who believes the government should be able to compel Apple to write software, which they do not want to write, that aids the FBI [2]. The clock is ticking. We don't know how much time we have to educate the public about encryption until the next terrorist attack. In my view, we need to, 1. seek out public figures and media who can share our message 2. come up with more concise messaging that is understandable by a non-techie 3. back it up with facts and primary sources John Oliver is not enough. All the tech companies is not enough. This is as big as or bigger than SOPA. When we fought SOPA, we didn't have the possibility that people could blame us in the future for terrorist attacks if that bill did not pass. If and when we fight an anti-encryption bill, we will be fighting that alarmist view. We will make it much easier on ourselves if we seek to educate the public about the issues and let them make up their own minds. [1] http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-cybersecurity/2016/02/march-is-encryption-bill-month-hackers-going-after-japans-infrastructure-a-mixed-final-2015-tally-212865 http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-cybersecurity/2016... [2] http://www.dailydot.com/politics/apple-iphone-doj-fbi-wall-street-journal-poll/ http://www.dailydot.com/politics/apple-iphone-doj-fbi-wall-s...