FBI: Apple, Google Data Encryption Goes Too Far

The FBI isn't too happy with Apple right now. They're lumping Google in for good measure, too. Director James Comey says he is "very concerned" about the encryption methods Apple and Google use for their devices. Not because they are too weak, but because they are beyond his reach.

Speaking to reporters at the FBI headquarters in Washington, Comey laid out his beliefs on the subject of information encryption, and feels companies that ramp-up their efforts are putting you and I "above the law":

I am a huge believer in the rule of law, but I am also a believer that no one in this country is beyond the law. What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves above the law.

I like and believe very much that we should have to obtain a warrant from an independent judge to be able to take the content of anyone's closet or their smartphone. The notion that someone would market a closet that could never be opened — even if it involves a case involving a child kidnapper and a court order — to me does not make any sense.

Apple and Google both take the approach that what they can't access themselves can't be given to the authorities. Apple's support page for iOS 8, as well as CEO Tim Cook's talk with Charlie Rose, highlight that once Apple encrypts the data, it's beyond their grasp. According to Comey, "Google is marketing their Android the same way: Buy our phone and law-enforcement, even with legal process, can never get access to it".

In the wake of the realization of what the NSA has been up to, that's kind of the point.

Source: Huffington Post