# Is the FBI right in decrying the stronger encryption about to come to smartphones?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-fbi-right-in-decrying-the-stronger-encryption-about-to-come-to-smartphones/699754>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 28, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-fbi-right-in-decrying-the-stronger-encryption-about-to-come-to-smartphones/699754 "2014-09-28T02:28:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 68

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-fbi-right-in-decrying-the-stronger-encryption-about-to-come-to-smartphones/699754/68 "2014-09-28T20:51:10Z")

</div>

> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Good question! The answer: _we do_.

Well, now we’re making progress.

> [@](#):
>
> The government has no right to abrogate it because we as a society deem it vital to the human condition

Well, of _course_ the government has a right to abrogate it, because the government is the people and therefore cannot act contrary to their will.

> [@](#):
>
> Christ, you cannot seriously be this naive. Yes, why _would_ it matter to a closeted gay teacher in the south whether or not he had the right to privacy? Whether a local sheriff knew whether or not he was gay? After all, it’s not like something like that could [end his career](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ivrcVSdaM) (hell, that’s not even a _gay_ teacher. That’s just an atheist).

I wouldn’t choose to continue living in a place where my career was predicated on my religious belief - and if I had no choice but to do so, then I would either change my beliefs or change my career.

> [@](#):
>
> When your argument just as easily dismisses the right to free speech or the right to life, the problem is not the right you are arguing against, it is a flaw with your argument.

And now you’ve gone back to assuming that “the right to free speech or the right to life” is some objective, cosmically-defined decree, instead of being something that people made up, and demanding that logic itself bend to your personal preferences as to how the world should be.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-fbi-right-in-decrying-the-stronger-encryption-about-to-come-to-smartphones/699754)._
