US Government Moving to Invade Your Mobile Privacy

Government Unable to Eavesdrop on iPhones

The DEA’s tech team is having no luck cracking the Apple iPhone’s iMessage platform. According to a report by the Drug Enforcement Agency, a majority of criminals prefer using the iPhone over other smartphone devices like Blackberry and Android. Now the Government agencies want to snoop into the private messages sent via the platform. Apparently messages sent via Apple’s encrypted chat service are nearly impossible to intercept. In a recent article published by CNET, federal drug enforcement agents trying to eavesdrop on the conversations of suspected criminals have been complaining that text messages delivered via iMessage are going undetected.

Apple’s iMessage platform is the most successful encrypted chat program in history with over 300 billion messages delivered through secure internet channels rather than as SMS messages. iMessage has become so pivotal in mainstream communication that the US Government is attempting to make changes to amend the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that was drafted in 1994. The Government’s goal appears to be to give law enforcement agencies unfettered access to new internet and mobile based communications. The law will force software and hardware developers to build in backdoor privacy invading systems that will give the Government easier surveillance avenues.

As an mobile app developer in Los Angeles with deep knowledge of encryption technology and secure communications, this initiative to increase Government intrusion into private enterprise and private life under the pretext of capturing criminals is worrying. This law could raise the costs associate with developing iPad, iPhone, and Android apps. The last thing the mobile app developer community wants is to have to comply with rules set forth by the FBI and DEA, forcing independent developers and tech start-ups to build extra software components for the use of spying on American citizens.