The US government is locking horns with the likes of Apple and Google over data access, after the department of justice demanded apple provide real-time coverage of the text messages exchange by suspects using iPhones.
Apple failed to comply, saying their messaging system is encrypted and thus they were unable to do as told.
Microsoft has found itself in a similar situation after the government demanded the emails of a drug trafficking suspect. As the e-mails were on servers in Dublin, Microsoft told the US Government they had to get an Irish court order.
The issue of data-encryption for users is that this sometimes will conflict with a government’s needs to see private messages to speed up an investigation and bring suspects to justice. But the standoff also shows the heightened resilience of tech companies who are eager to show they are protecting customer information. The tech companies appear to be winning this PR battle. Either way, as there are new regulations on data in places like the EU and Russia in place or coming soon, it will be interesting to see how the disagreement plays out, with the privacy of billions of internet users at stake.
@IT_SecGuru
