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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.
"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.
People have the right to make unbreakable locks. I do not OWE my government a back door.
Good-bye
Prosecution should have the right to any evidence they find (within the bounds of appropriate law.) They should not, however, have the right to find evidence.
The op-ed is no different than trying to ban gloves, as they deny important fingerprint evidence.
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Blame Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. DUI checkpoints absolutely violate the 4th and the dissenting opinions state as much, yet they're allowed. In my own state, the court had decided against them until years later, they decided to allow them. They all but admit that they violate our rights but because it's safety, they let it slide. If laws mean nothing to the courts, then it's up to the citizenry to defend themselves against a lawless government.
There have multiple cases of warrantless domestic spying by both the NSA and the FBI:
FBI:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articl...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01...
NSA:
https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying...
http://www.theguardian.com/wor...
Apple, Google and other tech/communications companies also believe that the USA Federal Government is abusing the FISA warrants for both domestic and international cases:
https://www.google.com/search?...
The USA Government has long used evidence that is gathered without a warrant to direct their case so that they know where to look with a warrant. If they get caught they have to prove that they could have obtained the information a different way. After you know what you are looking for that is a pretty low barrier to overcome.
Not saying this is write or wrong, but it is definitely documented.
You simply dont get it. You think that no one should be able to tell the government no, and thats not Liberty. The point of the Amendments is to stop people exactly like you. The 5th is a hard check on sovereign power over things like this. There are limits to how far we allow the government to go to solve crime.
Good-bye