The degree of governmental spying against its own citizens has become so severe that both Google and Apple, are planning to sell all their smartphones with data encryption enabled.
Apple says on their official privacy policy website, “Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data. So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
Before this policy change, Apple allowed governmental agencies and law enforcement personnel access to encrypted data with a search warrant.
FBI director James Comey strongly disagrees with the right to encrypt, and urged congress to update The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), forbidding tech companies from closing privacy back doors on their products.
Comey told Wall Street Journal reporters, “What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.”
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), responded by proposing The Secure Data Act. This bill would prohibit the government from demanding electronics manufacturers create backdoors and security vulnerabilities into U.S. software and electronics.
