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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.
Safes can be opened ... with a warrant. Mail can be opened ... with a warrant. Vehicles can be searched ... with a warrant. There's no reason to make smartphones that can't be searched ... with a warrant. I'm starting to get on board that Cortana should be accessible to law enforcement if needed to solve crimes. This is getting ridiculous, when there is evidence that could solve multiple murders and they have it so locked down that even LEO cannot get at it. That type of encryption is for the government, not for joe six-pack.
If you have any evidence to back up your claim, you realize that the evidence gathered without a warrant is inadmissible, so you should submit the paperwork and have the evidence thrown out.
But as you give no evidence to this ever happening, I will just assume that it didn't happen as it is more likely that the police wouldn't do something that would taint all the evidence of the crime occurring.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?