[studentrob]

That bit's definitely in there and it's definitely important for physical goods.

But digital goods are a different ball game. Even if the government is able to mandate back doors be put into phones, criminals will simply change to use other software.

We're going to need to face the fact that terrorists will still be able to hide their communications using encryption whether the US government attempts to rewrite all encryption communications software in the US or not. There are too many moles to whack.

I'd prefer that our law enforcement officers figure this out sooner or later so they can get back to figuring out how to keep us safe given the circumstances. They have a very difficult job which we need to support through whatever means we can. It's our job to help them learn how encryption works.

[harryh]

> Even if the government is able to mandate back doors be put into phones, criminals will simply change to use other software.

People say this a lot. But I'm not so sure. I'm sure they will some of the time, but I bet there are a lot of unsophisticated criminals out there who will use whatever consumer software I use to message my wife about who's picking up milk on the way home today. It's just easier.

We've actually seen evidence to support this position as well. The Paris attackers coordinated over unencrypted SMS when, even now, there are far more secure solutions that one can easily install.

[studentrob]

> I bet there are a lot of unsophisticated criminals out there who will use whatever consumer software I use to message my wife about who's picking up milk on the way home today. It's just easier.

For sure there are. Is that a good reason to pass laws mandating back doors in phones? I don't think so. The economic and security impact will be too large.

The FBI is focusing on terrorist cases as a means to win the public on their side. And, many sophisticated criminals have already figured out how to use encryption. The FBI is saying that criminals use Twitter as a means of connect, and then encourage followers to continue conversation via encrypted methods. I guess this is how they get metadata about who is talking to who but not the actual conversation content.