seneca72

There's an interesting statement by Congressman Ted Lieu pointing out that to comply with this would effectively make Apple a branch of law enforcement.  Once that happens, could FaceBook or Google be compelled to create profiles of people who may be subversives, terrorists or simply inconvenient to the Government of the day?   

https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lieu-statement-apple-court-order

»Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement regarding the APPLE court order. Congressman Lieu is one of only four computer science majors in Congress.  Congressman Lieu is also the author of the ENCRYPT ACT of 2016.

“The terrorist attack in San Bernardino was horrific and the tragic loss of innocent lives demands a strong response.  I have several deep concerns, however, about the unprecedented court order that forces Apple to create software it does not have in order to provide a “back door” way to weaken its smartphone encryption system.

This FBI court order, by compelling a private sector company to write new software, is essentially making that company an arm of law-enforcement.   Private sector companies are not—and should not be—an arm of government or law enforcement.

This court order also begs the question: Where does this kind of coercion stop?  Can the government force Facebook to create software that provides analytic data on who is likely to be a criminal?  Can the government force Google to provide the names of all people who searched for the term ISIL?  Can the government force Amazon to write software that identifies who might be suspicious based on the books they ordered?”

applesauce007 said:

Are the British security experts really that dumb?

I very much doubt GCHQ are dumb, but the politicians certainly are when it comes to tech matters.