Limiting the All Writs Act

A very encouraging ruling today in New York concerning the All Writs Act and the government's desire to force Apple to sabotage its security model:

“Apple is not doing anything to keep law enforcement agents from conducting their investigation. Apple has not conspired with [the defendant] to make the data on his device inaccessible,'' the judge wrote. “The government's complaint is precisely that Apple is doing nothing at all.”

The judge also offered an opinion, which I believe is correct, on why the government would try to accomplish this through the courts rather than through new legislation:

“It is also clear that the government has made the considered decision that it is better off securing such crypto-legislative authority from the courts…rather than taking the chance that open legislative debate might produce a result less to its liking,” he wrote.

I fear legislation could easily pass in our current political climate that values security more than liberty, but it would at least be more challenging than trying to move this through the courts further away from the spotlight.