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from the gettin-the-camel's-nose-under-the-tent dept.
AG Barr seeks 'legislative solution' to make companies unlock phones:
ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Brett Max Kaufman responded to [US Attorney General] Barr's comments, saying "Every time there's a traumatic event requiring investigation into digital devices, the Justice Department loudly claims that it needs backdoors to encryption, and then quietly announces it actually found a way to access information without threatening the security and privacy of the entire world. The boy who cried wolf has nothing on the agency that cried encryption." While Barr's push for backdoors and cooperation from phone manufacturers raises concerns, Kaufman's response doesn't address that the DoJ isn't seeking the ability to unlock phones, but to do so as quickly as possible.
Apple's refusal to work with law enforcement has been an issue for years. The company wants to ensure its users feel confident in trusting Apple with their data, yet police and the FBI say that the refusals to cooperate hinder investigations and put lives at risk. It sounds like Barr wants to put a system into law that would oblige Apple to comply in future cases. How realistic this plan is -- or how much buy-in from politicians it will get -- remains to be seen, though it would force Apple to rethink how it approaches user privacy.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 20 2020, @12:10PM
Yeah, Barr, no. "No" to the nth power.
After Snowden and all we've seen in the last decade, government has negative credibility. People inside the Beltway consider Americans -- not China, not Russia, not Islamic terrorists -- as the Enemy. More of us are returning the favor.
In fact, at this point any person who works for government or as a lobbyist should be branded a felon who has to prove his innocence to escape prison. Wouldn't that be a switch? Government employees desperate to serve the people instead of enriching themselves?
Washington DC delenda est.