Manhattan’s district attorney wants to “end the sale and distribution of impenetrable mobile devices” through federal legislation, adding there are 400 “lawfully-seized Apple devices” in New York County that are inaccessible to investigators.
In a new report, New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance repeated his desire to see federal legislation address “the risks posed by default device encryption,” such as that of Apple’s iOS 8, which encrypts data out of the reach of law enforcement search warrants.
The report is an update of a November 2015 report that warned of the “legal and practical problems for law enforcement posed by default device” encryption. In advocating for weakened encryption standards, the report says that default encryption “does not meaningfully increase smartphone users’ protection fro unauthorized hackers,” nor does requiring a “smartphone manufacturer or software supplier to maintain a key to the smartphones … imperil those users.” FULL REPORT
