Law Enforcement: "Stop Encryption -- We Can't Snoop!"

The law enforcement agencies are miffed at Google and Apple for having made it far harder for the snoopers to snoop. The old law of economics holds up: “When prices rise, the quantity demanded falls.” The feds demand — at the older, lower prices — but no one responds.

U.S. law enforcement officials are urging Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) to give authorities access to smartphone data that the companies have decided to block, and are weighing whether to appeal to executives or seek congressional legislation.

They need legislation. This means they are stymied. They can break the law, of course, and they will. They are law-enforcement. But the cost has risen.

“This is a very bad idea,” said Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, in an interview. Smartphone communication is “going to be the preferred method of the pedophile and the criminal. We are going to lose a lot of investigative opportunities.”

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