FBI: Using third parties to break encryption not only answer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is facing an increasing struggle to access readable information and evidence from digital devices because of default encryption, a senior FBI official told members of Congress at a hearing on digital encryption Tuesday.

Thomas Galati, chief of the intelligence bureau at the New York Police Department, said officials there have been unable to break open 67 Apple devices for use in 44 different investigations of violent crime — including 10 homicide cases.

[...] despite anxieties over "going dark," a February report from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University said the situation was not as dire as law enforcement had described and that investigators were not "headed to a future in which our ability to effectively surveil criminals and bad actors is impossible."

The hearing comes amid an ongoing dispute between law enforcement and Silicon Valley about how to balance consumer privacy against the need for police and federal agents to recover communications and eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and criminals.

Bruce Sewell, Apple's general counsel, touted the importance of encryption particularly in light of devastating breaches of sensitive government information — including at the IRS and the Office of Personnel Management.