PRIVACY: Is the Government Waging an Out-of-Sight Fight With Apple on Encryption?

The upshot is that, even as the FBI battles with Apple in public over iPhone encyprtion, other agencies like the NSA may be forcing Apple to break its encryption in secret through Section 702 orders. Even though Section 702 orders are notionally aimed at foreigners, there are numerous loopholes that can sweep in Americans.

The over-arching issue raised by EmptyWheel is not whether citizens should have the right to deploy unbreakable encryption (there are good arguments on each side), but instead that the government may be settling the debate in secret. The issue of encryption is too important to be stuffed into secret court proceedings. Let’s hope the Justice Department finds a way to debate this in the open.

I don’t trust Jeff Sessions enough to have that hope.