GOOGLE AND THE GOV’T CAN REMOTELY UNLOCK 74% OF ALL ANDROID DEVICES… BUT IS THAT A GOOD OR A BAD THING?

It was recently revealed in a report that Google and the government can remotely unlock 74% of all Android devices regardless of their passcode; even older generation iPhones aren’t safe. Most of us would probably agree that this sounds a little freaky because nobody wants their privacy invaded in this way.

BUT, the report says that the bigger risk to public safety and security is actually that both Google and Apple have engineered their newer generation operating systems “to be impervious to all decryption efforts, including legally-authorized efforts of state and federal governments. (1)”

The problem then, according to this report, is that smartphones with full-disk encryption are not just inaccessible to would-be criminals (which is good), they’re also inaccessible to law enforcement officials (which is bad). This means that law enforcement “can no longer access evidence of crimes stored on smartphones, even though the officials have a search warrant issued by a neutral judge. (2)” No doubt this will hinder and even halt countless criminal investigations that rely on smartphone access, so I definitely get the concern here.

So like with all privacy issues(and rightly so), there’s been much debate here “weighing individuals’ rights to privacy against society’s interest in providing governments with the tools that they require to maintain safety and provide security. (3)”

The report goes on to say that, “Apple and Google are not responsible for keeping the public safe. That is the job of law enforcement. But the consequences of these companies’ actions on the public safety are severe. (4)"

However,in May 2015 a large number of tech companies, civil society organizations, and security and policy experts urged President Obama to reject backdoor access to encrypted data in aletter. This letter received tremendous support from 140 tech firms (including Apple and Google) in urging Obama to fully support efforts to create high encryption standards on smartphones. 

The only bolded text in the entire letter states,

“We urge you [Obama] to reject any proposal that U.S. companies deliberately weaken the security of their products. We request that the White House instead focus on developing policies that will promote rather than undermine the wide adoption of strong encryption technology. Such policies will in turn help to promote and protect cybersecurity, economic growth, and human rights, both here and abroad.”

The Obama administration has allegedly responded to the letter by saying that the President won’t push for any legislation forcing the tech sector to install backdoors into their products anytime soon.

So I guess for now Google, Apple, and the at least 138other tech companies backing the letter can breathe a sigh of relief. Personally, I’m still not sure ifthis is a good or a bad thing. What do you think?