6 ms·
FBI Concerned About New Apple and Google Privacy Features
- lutusp 12y agoFrom the article, a quote by the FBI director: "I am a huge believer in the rule of law, but I am also a believer that no one in this country is above the law," Comey told reporters at FBI headquarters in Washington. "What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves above the law." So being secure in one's person, papers and effects places one above the law? The director's argument suffers from a number of flaws. One is the fact that freely available encryption methods already protect any content a person cares to shield from prying eyes, in which case an accessible device would contain nothing but unreadable "evidence". Another is that, if access is only possible through the voluntary participation of the device's owner, this new feature resolves the 5th amendment self-incrimination issue -- just as it already does with respect to encrypted files. In principle, for someone sufficiently concerned about privacy, the device's entire content could be protected by robust encryption, accessible only through a password. If the device is itself protected in the same way, this changes nothing. People have been free to encrypt their device's content or not, as they choose. Now people are free to buy a device that cannot be accessed without the same password protection that its contents already have.