Barack Obama just gave his first public statement on the debate over smartphone encryption since the public spat between the FBI and Apple began a few weeks ago.
Speaking at the South By Southwest conference in Austin Friday, Obama gave his view in general terms about where he stands on phone encryption and the right to privacy since he can't comment on the Apple/FBI case specifically. But his stance can easily be applied to the FBI's demand that Apple create a new version of iOS to unlock the iPhone that belonged to one of the suspected shooters in the San Bernardino killings.
In short, Obama thinks tech companies should create a way for law enforcement agencies to access locked devices, assuming they have probable cause for such access.
"I am of the view that there are very real reasons why we want to make sure the government can't just willy nilly get into everyone's smartphones," Obama said.
But he did say he believes tech companies need to create a "key" to their devices for when the government has a legitimate reason to access one.
"If it's possible to make an impenetrable device where encryption is so strong that there is no key... then how do we apprehend the child pornographer... how do we disrupt a terrorist plot... how do we do simple things like tax enforcement?" Obama said. "If we can't crack that and can't get in... then everyone is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket... there needs to be a way to get in somehow."
Obama proposed that tech companies work with the government to create a system where a key exists to unlock devices, but that key should be heavily guarded and only accessible to those qualified to have it.
"I suspect it comes down to how do we create encryption that is as strong as possible and the key is as secure as possible," he said.
Obama also spoke repeatedly of the need to strike a balance between the right to privacy and the right to safety. He compared this to law enforcement's right to search someone's home with a warrant or the TSA's right to search passengers about to board a plane. All those things are done with safety in mind, and the same concept should be applied to digital devices, he said, warning against taking an "absolutist" view one way or the other.
"You cannot take an absolutist view on this," Obama said. "That, I think, does not strike the kind of balance we have had for 200, 300 years and it's fetishizing our phones above every other value."
Apple has repeatedly said it's fighting the FBI's request because it believes creating a key to the San Bernardino's phone will set a precedent allowing the government to unlock even more phones whenever it wants. The FBI says it only wants to unlock this one phone, this one time, under Apple's supervision.
