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Prosecutors Op-Ed: Phone Encryption Blocks Justice

New submitter DaDaDaaaaa writes: The New York Times features a joint op-ed piece by prosecutors from Manhattan, Paris, London and Spain, in which they decry the default use by Apple and Google of full disk encryption in their latest smartphone OSes (iOS 8 and Android Lollipop, respectively). They talk about the murder scene of a father of six, where an iPhone 6 and a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge were found.

"An Illinois state judge issued a warrant ordering Apple and Google to unlock the phones and share with authorities any data therein that could potentially solve the murder. Apple and Google replied, in essence, that they could not — because they did not know the user's passcode. The homicide remains unsolved. The killer remains at large."

They make a case for lawmakers to force Apple and Google to include backdoors into their smartphone operating systems. One has to wonder about the legitimate uses of full disk encryption, which can protect good people from harm, and them from having their privacy needlessly intruded upon.

3 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's the base assumption that its invalid by Wintermute__ · · Score: 2, Funny

    That sign's not going to stop a bugler and neither will the "police only" nature of the back door stop hackers.

    Those pesky buglers! Nothing can stop them! They keep sneaking in and playing "Reveille" to wake me up in the morning. So annoying!

  2. Re:It's the base assumption that its invalid by garote · · Score: 3, Funny

    Buglers are such assholes... First they wake me up at the crack of dawn, then they crack my encryption...

  3. Re:It Doesn't Matter by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's also a good chance that there is nothing on these phones leading to the murderer.

    You're ignoring the Muderers' Code of Conduct (MCC).

    The MCC obliges someone about to commit murder to pose for a picture taken by the intended victim, if said victim requests it prior to completion of the murder.

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    #DeleteChrome