It’s just one Apple device, right?
You are a lock manufacturer. You make the best locks in the world.
A hotel has a crime committed in room 33, and the door is locked. The government comes to you and says “we need the master key to every lock of this brand in the country to open this door. We’ll only use it to open this one door. It’s completely legal; it’s a crime scene investigation.”
You can’t reasonably deny that request, right?
For totally logical reasons that are not explained here, your company’s locks all open with a master key, that you keep in a vault at your company headquarters. Only the FBI will have the master key, so what’s the harm? They would never lose it or accidentally allow a duplicate to be made. Right?
Right?
OK, the problem with this situation is obvious. We would never hand out the top secret master key to every lock ever made. But, they explain “A master key is the ONLY way into the room, because it’s made of a fictional kryptonite alloy. Only your master key can open this door. It’s OK, it’s only the one door. We promise we will never use the key again for any reason unless there is a court order or it is totally legal to.”
Oh. So there’s no other way in, and it is technically possible to let the FBI in, but only by handing over the key to every lock in the world.
You are the lock manufacturer. What do you do?
