Government Backdoors

Should companies have to weaken their encryption purposefully? Should they implement backdoors for government benefit? I don't think they should have to. Let's look at it like this, what would be the state of our democracy if we monitor every single person through their phones and arrest them before the crime is committed? For example, what if you were talking with a friend and were telling them about how you were going to steal their phone the next day in order to.... I don't know.... text some girl that they like and next thing you know the government is knocking at your door arresting you on conspiracy to commit a crime. All because you said you were going to take their phone to text the girl they like. I'm not saying I have a problem with this, but if this type of activity goes without any limitations, it could potentially threaten the state of our democracy. As Director Comey talks about, he loves encryption because it keeps him save, it gives people that sense of personal security, that it allows for that sense of privacy that we all desire. I think these are unnecessary because if it comes down to needing to get into a someones phone, the company that designed the security features should help the government. In a more empirical view, the company will not be losing their intellectual property in the sense that they're not displaying the under the hood specifics of how the software works, their just bypassing it for the sake of national security. But on a personal sense I understand why this would be problematic. Just as Apple fought Obama's order to unlock the San Bernadino shooters phones, it's about trust. By unlocking the phone they're essentially backtracking on their promise of privacy because they're willfully giving the government, or someone other than the user, access to their information. It's like their friend promising not to share a secret that you shared with them, only to find out later that they told their other friend who in turn told all of their friends etc. It's a violation of trust, and it threatens the business because customers may leave them because of their willingness to share information with third parties.

All this being said, I also believe that the government should have access to privacy information ONLY IF the circumstances were correct. If it's okay to wiretap a phone and listen in on peoples conversations, why now are people throwing a fit over access to text messages or other protected data? The way to catch and prevent crime needs to evolve with the times especially since phone calls are becoming less and less convenient when making plans. I think that if someone is a suspect or is suspected to be a part of a heinous crime that is going to be committed such as a terrorist act, then it is okay to monitor their phone data and see what they are planning/plotting. But like all things, this could end up being a horrible misapplication of "justice." Obviously a policy like this would need to be carefully thought out and planned to ensure that it is not misused. But then again, these are just some of my thoughts on the issue.