A "golden key" only makes sense to me if it is exchanged for transparency of when it is used. Imagine a hardware device that can vend session keys to any devic

A "golden key" only makes sense to me if it is exchanged for transparency of when it is used. Imagine a hardware device that can vend session keys to any device, but will not do so unless it can push a notification to a public server that publishes the identity of both the accessor (who must authenticate themselves) and the identity being backdoored. If the argument is that law enforcement will only use this when going through proper channels, let this be enforced by forced transparency. The hardware device would be designed to never let the underlying key leave the device. So for the key to fall into the wrong hands, the hardware device would have to physically fall into the wrong hands. The hardware would therefore need to be housed in a secure location. This is what I personally would require before I could ever support a golden key.