Remember when the FBI hunted Communists? Now the FBI wants to BE communist. That's the only way to interpret Director James Comey's hysterical demand that technology companies give the Bureau master keys to encrypted smart phones.
Apple and Google announced last month that new devices would automatically encrypt stored data with a digital key known only to the owner. Even the manufacturers won't be able to unlock the data.
This makes perfect sense to those of us who believe private property should stay private and that information is property.
Comey has a different view. Much like Karl Marx, he seems to believe all property belongs to the state by default and that individuals may borrow it only to the degree the state permits.
A 1994 law requiring telecommunications companies to guarantee FBI access to phone calls and related metadata does not cover the Internet or mobile devices. In an Oct. 15 speech at the Brookings Institution, Comey said Congress should update the law to include newer technologies.
Without such a law, Comey contends terrorists and criminals will run rampant and law enforcement will be powerless to stop them.
We need only think back a couple of decades to realize how wrong this is. Our nation had a vast network of private, untraceable communication devices available to anyone with a quarter. We called them "pay phones" and criminals loved them. Yet somehow, the FBI still managed to enforce the law and no one worried about terrorism.
Comey wants us to believe the sky will fall unless the bureau has a master key to every bit of information stored on every mobile device within our borders. This is where it becomes an economic problem. Apple, Google and their many suppliers want to sell their technology outside our borders, a task that would be infinitely more difficult if the FBI has a master key.
If Comey gets his way, foreign consumers and businesses will have one more reason
not to buy American technology. The National Security Agency (NSA) already gave the industry
a very big perception problem overseas. Now the FBI wants to make it worse.
Thankfully, Congress seems unlikely to grant Comey's wish — but he's already hurt the tech industry and the U.S. economy just by asking. The FBI director left no ambiguity about what he wants. We know that administrations of both parties have routinely lied about their surveillance practices. It is no stretch to believe Comey will find other ways to take what he thinks is rightfully his.
Even if we presume Comey is right, and that a smart phone "back door" would help him keep America safe, people in Brazil, Germany, China and India won't enjoy the benefits. Why should they expose their data to the FBI?
Answer: They won't — and American shareholders will lose revenue.
The FBI, NSA and other agencies are going to "protect" our technology industry right out of business. We will lose prosperity while gaining no security.