[jaredklewis]

So don't, but then when the government wants some user you have, they'll ask you to modify the code so the JS does access their data and send it back to you. Comply or shutdown.

My understanding is that in the bit mail case, the government didn't just ask for data. They also asked for code to be modified. So really, any technical solution done by coding, well, the government can just ask you to un-code it.

[JoshTriplett]

There's a big difference between a warrant to provide user data you trivially have access to and a demand to modify your code to intercept user data when it previously did not have that capability. I'd love to see a court case over the latter, considering that a request to insert a backdoor would require a coder to risk their entire career to comply with.

(Leaving aside that any such request would necessarily have to be a "secret warrant", which is dubious to begin with. And leaving aside mechanisms like warrant canaries, signed binaries, and Open Source clients, all of which would provide additional avenues for both detection and legal challenge.)

[dublinben]

It's unlikely that such an order would hold up to a challenge, since the government can't generally compel you to deliver speech you don't agree with.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/compell...