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The US government is attempting to fight back against the new encryption technologies used on smartphones. An official at the US Department of Justice stated that tragedy would ensue if the authorities did not have unwarranted access to devices such as a suspect's phone.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Google are currently at a standoff with the US Department of Justice over smartphone encryption. According to those who attended a meeting, a US official said: “New encryption technology that renders locked smartphones impervious to law enforcement would lead to tragedy. A child would die, because police wouldn't be able to scour a suspect's phone”.
The meeting reportedly ended with an Apple official calling the dead child scenario inflammatory. Apple executives say that law enforcement agencies would be able to obtain data elsewhere, such as through wireless carriers. However, the DOJ argued that this would make the job harder for the Police, even with a court order.
Even if Apple was served with a court order to unlock a device, it wouldn't have the key required to decipher the information encrypted on iPhones. The latest encryption options offered by the likes of Apple and Google came shortly after it was revealed that the NSA was illegally snooping and spying on people around the world, often without reason or cause.
An NSA reform bill recently failed in the US Senate and many US tech companies are challenging the government on the legal framework used to obtain data. WhatsApp has been the latest company to begin offering end-to-end encryption on its service, keeping all text conversations private and uncrackable by those wishing to snoop.
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KitGuru Says: The US Department of Justice wouldn't be in this position if it didn't allow agencies like the NSA to blatantly abuse their power and spy on people without proper cause. Now tech firms and their customers want to take that power away and they have nobody to blame but themselves.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, AndroidCentral
GIVE US EVERY DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE OR CUTE PUPPIES WILL TRAGICALLY DIE
TOO LATE *LOADS SHOTGUN*
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Based on their track record, how can ANYONE trust the govt to do (or not do) anything they say?
One child.. or my R34 collection… I can’t see an issue with some of the slags in my year at school being killed.
Aiiiiiiiieeeeeee, A kitten dies every time a phone is encrypted!
As much as I hate apple (and I really do), they’re spot on with their response to this horrendous piece of US government scaremongering. ‘Please, we need total access to everything about everyone, or an evil paedophilic tornado will strike down innocent children and tear their limbs off and molest them and it will be all your fault.’ No. Just no.
Brought to you by the wonderful civil rights caring political party- the Democrats. Yes a political comment like this was probably unnecessary except for the morons who will no doubt answer below castigating the Republicans. SO, the point is, the dumocrats, even the current messiah, are no different.
did they even think that a child may die without encryption, because some pervert hacked their phone and tracked their whereabouts? this is nothing about “protecting children”, and more about being able to spy on people for various reasons.
You’d be surprised how much authoritarianism can be justified with the phrase “in order to protect you”.
At what point are we willing to accept a certain amount of risk to allow us any of our basic freedoms? Better lock every person in the world inside their own little cells, as any one of us could hurt the other at any moment for all the government knows.