[shawnz]

> have a plan already developed that could handle that

But... we do have a plan, which is to just not do it in spite of any crisis or whatever. He is misleadingly framing it here like we don't have the ability to backdoor encryption which has never been the problem.

He clearly states that what we need to be weary about is public opinion changing, which is basically like saying that we should just get ready to compromise our standards in preparation for the day where reactionary desire is able to overcome our "sober" thinking of the present, or else fear the government coming in and doing it sloppily and by force.

Clearly that's irrational. We should resist it now and we should resist it then too, for just the same reasons we resist it now. There's no technology issue here, just an ethical/political one.

[dmix]

San Bernardino also already happened. And it wasn't a big deal. They eventually got the phone broken, and there was nothing of value on it. But that's besides the point, it's an example of the type of thing they are talking about.

From my perspective life would not have been any meaningfully different either way if that phone stayed locked. I also can't image some future scenario where it makes such a big deal. What type of information is going to be on some laptop or smartphone that is so important it's worth compromising our general civil rights? There is almost always a hundred human errors around the crime already that they can piece it all together without godmode on every electronic device. A smartphone is rarely an all encompassing security mechanism for any big evil plot.

There is no 'backdoor' technology solution here that makes sense and they need to get used to it.

[redisman]

Barr's is really just the same reasoning used for the Patriot Act. Something really bad could happen unless everyone gives up X rights.