Bull. Encryption is a digital lock. No more. If someone wanted to bar their doors, install reinforced frames, etc., the cops couldn’t just barge in. They could pull a Waco and bulldoze the property down, but that’s not practical.
Everyone’s focused on this single instance of a single phone from a dead terrorist. Any leads are likely long gone cold, and the FBI is looking for a bailout because they were the ones who screwed up the lock on the phone in the first place!
This is a red herring operation. Encryption serves far more good than bad, and the idea that we need “justice” from unbreakable encryption is like saying we shouldn’t ever have locked doors.
It’s not about government spying or about terrorism. It’s about the courts being able to function at all.
If everyone has a lock that cannot be opened except by themselves, which is where we’re heading, then warrants and courts are no use at all.
Evidence of assaults, thefts, kidnapping, embezzlement, what-have-you will not be available.
Strong encryption is needed more and more.
It needs to be integrated in a way that allows the Fourth Amendment to continue to be effective.