The Federal Bureau of Investigation is concerned that Apple and Google's smartphone encryption will cost people their lives.
FBI director James B. Comey criticized the companies on Sept. 25 for preventing law enforcement officials from easily getting access to information stored on phones.
Apple announced last week that iOS 8 updates will prevent cops from getting data from locked phones even with a search warrant. Google's next version of its Android operating system will also make extracting data just as difficult.
Child kidnapping and terrorism cases were used as two example situations where law enforcement may need access to data to save lives.
Comey's criticism is forceful but it carries the concerns of law enforcement officials across the nation. "What concerns me about this is companies [are] marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law," said Comey.
Comey said that U.S. officials are in talks with the companies to learn the technology better and "to understand what they're thinking and why they think it makes sense."
Law enforcement commonly search for evidence on the phones of suspects by looking through call logs, instant messages, texts and location records. Criminals often take selfies with stolen property and locations can help police piece together where crimes took place.
"Apple will become the phone of choice for the pedophile," said John J. Escalante, chief of detectives for Chicago's police department. "The average pedophile at this point is probably thinking, I've got to get an Apple phone."
However, detectives can still get access to call and text logs from cellular carriers and locate suspects using cell towers. "The reality is that if the FBI really wants to investigate someone, they have a spectacular arsenal of weapons," said Peter Eckersely, director of technology projects at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group based in San Francisco.
A Supreme Court ruling in June requires law enforcement to get a search warrant before collecting data from a suspect's phone. It makes sense that Apple and Google are taking these measures, given the whole iCloud scare and NSA controversies. We'll just have to see how the FBI will deal with this going forward.
