Bill Gates Breaks Ranks Over FBI Apple Request

Stephen Foley and Tim Bradshaw, writing for The Financial Times:

“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case,” Mr Gates told the Financial Times.

“It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said, ‘Don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’.”

Gates is so smart — surely he understands that if the FBI prevails, this will set precedent that will be used again and again. It seems to me he’s arguing that we should not be allowed to have devices protected by strong encryption.

Update: Gates said today he thinks the FT mischaracterized his position, but I’m not really seeing it. He certainly isn’t siding with Apple — his stance seems, at best, lukewarm, like Sundar Pichai’s.

★ Tuesday, 23 February 2016