ewtheckman

volcan said:

It is not the encryption that is preventing the FBI from getting at the data, it is the auto wipe feature which doesn't involve encryption at all. Encryption keys vary in strength. The larger the key size the stronger it is. All encryption can be broken by brute force...eventually. There are also various types of encryption such as AES, RSA and different algorithms such as Elliptic Curve and Symmetrical which offer varying degrees of protection. I believe Apple uses 256 AES on iOS, which is on the strong side but certainly not absolute.

The key is an integral part of an encryption system. If that key cannot be secured, then the encryption system is broken just as surely as if a brute force attack reverse engineered that key. The auto wipe and delay features exist to protect the key. If you remove them, that key becomes accessible to anyone who wants it.

Put another way, you could put the ultimate "uncrackable" lock on the front door of your house, but if the government requires you to put a copy of your key in a fake rock in the front yard, your house will be broken into.

Avoiding "absolutist" positions is even possible in this debate?

It's a binary option. Either there is a backdoor/weakness or there isn't. There is no middle ground.

So much for Obama having "a good grasp of the issue's technical details." He's not doing any better than any other politician (from both sides of the aisle) saying exactly the same thing in different words.

tallest skil said:

paul turner said:
Democracy, boy have they got u programmed 

In what way, exactly?

The United States is not a democracy, it's a constitutional republic. There are significant differences.

wood1208 said:

Obama appointed another idiot to this important government post to prove diversity.

Not ideological diversity.

rob53 said:

It's difficult to call this event a terrorist attack when sn employee attacked his coworkers. It the attackers were white Americans it would not have been called a terrorist attack and wouldn't even be discussed anymore. There's a lot of paranoid people in the US and the republican candidates are using it to stoke the fires. As for the commenters on this forum who refuse to understand this, quit following the lead sheep, educate yourself on what's going on and realize how anti-American our government has become in the last two decades. 

"Terrorism" is being used as a euphemism to ignore the ideology motivating such attacks. Terrorism is actually a tactic that uses fear to create political change. The willingness of so many people to compromise their personal security for a false sense of security from terrorist acts shows that the tactic is working.