FBI Director James Comey Gets Phone Encryption Completely Wrong

Watching 60 Minutes tonight, and in an interview with FBI Director James Comey, he compared Apple and Google’s plans to encrypt phones by default to having car trunks that can never be opened or houses that can never be entered, even with a court order.

Except his comparisons are completely and utterly incorrect. Law enforcement, even with a court order, still requires me to open the trunk, or open the door to my house for them to conduct their search. What they want with mobile devices is the equivalent of having a key to every single house in the country and freedom to enter them without your knowledge. No, I’m sorry, you don’t get to have that.

If law enforcement has a court order to search a seized phone, then it can be presented to the owner and they can be required to enter their passcode. Why is that so hard? Why does the government need access to decrypt personal data on mobile devices without the involvement of the owners of that data?

No. No. No!

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