[krapp]

If it were really the case that the FBI "would rather not have to follow any laws and just do whatever it wants every time, anytime," they would have already raided Apple's headquarters and taken what they wanted at gunpoint. Obviously, they believe their position is legally justifiable.

[wavefunction]

Or it could be that the FBI expects compliance from Apple as they expect compliance from all of us _and_ they know that raiding Apple's headquarters to take what they want (what? what would they take?) at gunpoint would cause many currently compliant citizens to become less compliant.

Our system depends on many lies to keep lurching along for the benefit of the elite and anything that causes those lies to be uncovered for more and more people is best avoided, according to the status quo.

[krapp]

It seems obvious to me that the FBI considers their position here to be legal. All I'm saying is, if it were truly the case that they didn't care about the law at all, there are probably more direct and effective extralegal methods they could try.