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MrGuy [soylentnews.org] writes:

Soon-to-be-ex-AG Eric Holder is quite literally invoking a "think of the children!" argument [washingtonpost.com]to lobby for deliberate back-doors in all device encryption.

(Holder) called on companies “to work with us to ensure that law enforcement retains the ability, with court-authorization, to lawfully obtain information in the course of an investigation, such as catching kidnappers and sexual predators.”
...
“It is fully possible to permit law enforcement to do its job while still adequately protecting personal privacy,” Holder said at a conference on child sexual abuse, according to a text of his prepared remarks. “When a child is in danger, law enforcement needs to be able to take every legally available step to quickly find and protect the child and to stop those that abuse children. It is worrisome to see companies thwarting our ability to do so.”

He stopped short of naming Apple and Google, but it's clear what's he's referring to. [techtimes.com]

Ostensibly, these backdoors would only be usable by law enforcement with a valid warrant. In practice, crypto that's known to have a weakness can be attacked. Also, since presumably US-based companies (Apple and Google) would control these back doors, an NSL would presumably be equally effective as a judicial warrant for gaining access.

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