FBI Director James Comey : “When the government’s ability—with appropriate predication and court oversight—to see an individual’s stuff goes away, it will affect public safety. That tension is vividly illustrated by the current ISIL threat, which involves ISIL operators in Syria recruiting and tasking dozens of troubled Americans to kill people, a process that increasingly takes part through mobile messaging apps that are end-to-end encrypted, communications that may not be intercepted, despite judicial orders under the Fourth Amendment. But the tension could as well be illustrated in criminal investigations all over the country. There is simply no doubt that bad people can communicate with impunity in a world of universal strong encryption.”  

Tim Cushing : “It’s all FUD and it’s all dangerous, because carving small holes in encryption CARVES HOLES IN ENCRYPTION. Never mind the intended uses of golden keys/backdoors. A hole is a hole. The Department of Defense seems to recognize this fact, making it one of the only government entities involved in fighting worldwide terrorism to openly do so… Adding backdoors to encryption weakens defenses, including those used by government agencies and operatives. You can’t simply introduce circumvention and pray that nobody other than approved parties make use of it. The FBI/NSA’s obsession with government-ordered peepholes makes everything worse for everyone, not just their intended targets.”