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Comment by thesimon | Hacker News Reader

>How many criminals are you willing to let get away with their crimes?

So you are saying Apple is only helping criminals with encryptions?

And because weakening encryption can not only be used in special cases (you mention child abusers and rapists in an attempt to appeal to emotions), you don't fear encryption being used against the average person?

For example if the police would search your phone in a traffic stop, that would be okay?

The amount of cases you could solve with a crypto backdoor seem very small in comparison the risks for the average citizen. Privacy is an important right for everyone.

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> So you are saying Apple is only helping criminals with encryptions?

No I'm saying that arrogantly the people behind these decisions cannot imagine a scenario in which someone else could hold information about them that would be harmful just by its existence.

They can only imagine their secrets being revealed, such as Tim Cook being outed before he was satisfied.

> you don't fear encryption being used against the average person?

I'm confused as to what you're asking, that's exactly what I fear. A rapist taking photos of his victim, the evidence being insufficient for a conviction, Apple now protects that rapist and his access to his victim's photos at the cost of the victim's mental health.

> For example if the police would search your phone in a traffic stop, that would be okay?

If they had good reason, that's the basis of the legal system after all.

> The amount of cases you could solve with a crypto backdoor

Crypto backdoors are ineffective. Service provider accountability is. This is why Apple is fighting it.

Oh no, crypto backdoors are quite effective at their stated purpose - letting an authority break it when they desire. See also the Clipper chip, DUAL_EC, and so on.

The problem is that we're no longer talking about physical devices like a gun or a safe, we're talking about math. Breaking crypto is basically solving a math problem. If for any reason the problem is solved, it's forever solved, and expecting that solution to stay in a few trusted hands against nation-state level actors (or hell, even motivated security professionals) is absurd.

The issue here is that the FBI is demanding that Pandora's box be opened. There is no closing it again. Are you ready to sacrifice the safety of every iPhone everywhere based on a promise from the FBI?

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