Switzerland has for years given safe haven for criminals. A place for them to hide their ill-gotten gains from the prying eyes of prosecutors and tax collectors.
Now Apple wants to become the go-to device for crooks to hide their data. Before, criminals at least had to hide records, contacts, and receipts in some dark, inconvenient place. Enron’s Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling had their records in paper files, which they so famously tried to shred when investigators knocked on their door. Now, thanks to Apple, today’s Enron crooks can carry all their junk around in their back pocket, conveniently at their fingertips, and yet safe from their would-be jailers.
Yes, law-abiding people do have an expectation of privacy. And our privacy is adequately protected by a government that honors and follows laws requiring a search warrant that a judge has determined has merit.
What we need is a government that follows these laws. What we don’t need is a digital Switzerland for criminals.
