All of the Above: the FBI Continues Its Push for Insecure Network Communications

Tech Cruch asks: "Is the FBI Dumb, Evil, or Just Incompetent?"  Do we really have to choose here?  These attributes are not mutually exclusive.  The only correct answer to this question is: ALL OF THE ABOVE.  Excerpt:

A government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Face­book and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur,” according to the Washington Post, by fining them increasing sums until they build government-accessible back doors into their systems. . . .

the FBI would only be able to wiretap suspects who are either too dumb to use encryption — in which case they ought to be easy enough to catch without wiretaps — or who think they have nothing to hide. Meanwhile, they’d be setting a terrible precedent for other, more draconian governments. Critics say “We’ll look a lot more like China than America after this” … but the Obama administration, which not coincidentally appears to hate whistleblowers above all else, still seems poised to support this initiative. But wait, it gets worse. In order to claim this empty chalice, the powers that be will require a surveillance system that could be abused by the very kind of people it’s supposed to be used against. Could, and almost certainly would . . . 

The federal government wants us to give up security in the name of security.