FBI director Christopher Wray made the comments at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, reports the BBC. There he revealed that the FBI has been unable to access the data on 7,000 phones in their possession. The FBI’s frustrations came to a head publicly in 2016 when it asked Apple to help unlock the encrypted data on the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple refused and ultimately the FBI used third-party services to access the device. Yet Wray told the conference on Sunday that he acknowledged there was a trade-off needed: “I get it, there’s a balance that needs to be struck between encryption and the importance of giving us the tools we need to keep the public safe.”MG
