On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 02:15:24PM -0500, John Young wrote:

At 11:13 AM 2/26/2016, Henry Baker wrote:

...

If this interpretation of the All Writs Act is upheld, then the DOJ will have to consult with the intelligence community prior to compelling companies like Apple to decrypt phones. It would be quite interesting for DOJ to publicly stipulate that NSA could (or could not) break into iOS 8 or 9. This is truly a sticky wicket, since the intelligence community is generally prohibited from working on domestic issues.

We asked for an opinion of Michael Froomkin, Law Professor at University of Miami, on Henry Baker's comments:

https://cryptome.org/2016/02/can-spies-break-apple-crypto.htm

NOW we get to something substantial. Why is one branch of the government asking a private company to do what many believe is easily done by (multiple?) other branches of the government. Does one sub-beaurocracy have the power to compel a private citizen to do what another sub-beaurocracy has refused to do? Or maybe, does the All Writs Act allow a judge to compel a secret document or procedure they have seen abused many times to be declassified? There's a fascinating game being played out here.