Should technology companies purposely weaken encryption or implement backdoors in their products for the benefit of the government?
LOL no.
Yeah, that's definitely a hard no. There are numerous things wrong with purposely weakening encryption and implementing backdoors.
I think data privacy is one of our top concerns as computer scientists and I think it should be a priority when we design systems and create products. As soon as we, as users, use a computer system, whether it be hardware or software, we automatically open ourselves up to having our data stolen (don't even get me started on IoT). As computer scientists, I think it is our duty and ethical obligation to try to prevent this.
Purposely weakening encryption completely goes against this ethical obligation. It's as if we're freely giving away our users' data to every criminal and cracker in the industry, without even asking for a bit of hacking effort or thousands in bitcoin on their part. Yes, I know those who support this will say that the government needs weakened encryption, to protect US citizens (*cough to spy on US citizens), but even if that reasoning was agreeable, finding a way to allow the government access without making the data vulnerable to others is impossible. To me, the reads like weakening encryption for the government can do more damage than simply strengthening security.
As for backdoors, I think Tim Cook's point is even more valid. As soon as you implement a backdoor in your system, you greatly increase your chances of being the subject of malicious musings. I know the government campaigns heavily for backdoors, and honestly it has gotten out of hand. They asked Linus Torvalds to insert a backdoor in the linux kernel source. NSA needs to chill. Is it not obvious to them how big of a security risk that is?
I know that the NSA is not completely bad: they do actually promote the safety of the US citizens in the grand scheme of things, like in regards to terrorism. But I think they have become power- and data-hungry and now want it all. I also know that there is only a finite amount that I know about the situation, but I still think weakening encryption and implementing backdoors are terrible ideas. I honestly think they do more harm than good, because all they do is open up our computer systems to the people the NSA says they're trying to protect us from. And the thing is, I don't think my opinion is some marvelous revelation or some ingenious idea. There's no way someone important hasn't thought of this before, which leads me to believe there is something more going on behind the scenes that your average US citizen (me) doesn't know about. I think that is the more worrisome problem. What more are they trying to hide from us, or what undisclosed aspect of implementing backdoors and weakening encryption are they secretly desiring?
Apple’s chief executive, Timothy Cook, has taken up the other side of the
argument, making the case that a way to allow the government access without
making the data vulnerable to others simply does not exist.
[Blaming Snowden for the US inability to stop the Paris attacks] seems a
bit far-fetched, given that terrorist organizations have been using
encryption of various sorts for more than 15 years at least.
Linux supremo Linus Torvalds has jokingly admitted US spooks approached him
to put a backdoor in his open-source operating system.