Phones to be built in a way to allow Govt. to gain access, says Obama

With the next hearing in the Apple encryption case scheduled for March 22, U.S. President Barack Obama broke his silence on the ongoing debate between the Apple and the FBI about penetrating encryption, saying that mobile devices should be built in a way to allow the government to gain access to personal data if needed to prevent a terrorist attack or enforce tax laws.

"If technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there's no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer, how do we solve or disrupt a terrorist plot?" Obama said while speaking at the Southwest festival in Texas.

"Technology is evolving so rapidly that new questions are being asked, and I am of the view that there are very real reasons why we want to make sure the government can not just wily-nilly get into everyone's iPhones or smartphones that are full of very personal information or very personal data," the Techcrunch quoted President Obama.

"What makes it even more complicated is that we also want really strong encryption because part of us preventing terrorism or preventing people from disrupting the financial system or our air traffic control system or a whole other set of systems that are increasingly digitized, is that hackers, state or non-state, can't get in there and mess around. So we have two values, both of which are important," he added.