[spin]

The movie companies and the record companies wanted DRM -- they were under the delusion that they could both control digital information while sharing digital information.

So now Washington is suffering from a similar delusion: you can build encryption to keep criminals out of your banking website, but still allow the feds access to whatever they choose.

[daemin]

So then if a federal agent is/becomes a criminal does that mean they won't be able to access the back door then?

[takeda]

You know the answer to this, but that's not the point. The old system did not prevent crooked agent to have access as well.

The problem here is much bigger, because they assume that no one in the world (including foreign governments) would be able to figure out how to exploit backdoor(s).

Imagine a foreign government eventually would discover it. Such knowledge would be extremely powerful weapon in cyber warfare. What McCain is suggesting is extremely dumb, even if he's not concerned about our privacy.