“I NEED WIDER POWERS!” New York DA vs Apple encryption: ‘We need new federal law to unlock 400 seized iPhones’

The DA argues that law-enforcement agencies do not want a backdoor to Apple and Google products, but rather a return to pre-September 2014, when Apple’s encryption didn’t prevent them from carrying out a search warrant on an iPhone.

In a speech at the launch, Vance said the report showed that requiring smartphone makers to retain the ability to extract data will not increase users’ risks of being hacked.

He said the report concluded that, “Doing nothing about this problem will perpetuate an untenable arms race between private industry and law enforcement, and that federal legislation is our only chance to lay these arms aside”.

“Lay these arms aside” sounds like a warning George III might have issued.

(Classical reference in the headline.)