In the context of:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's all-consuming lust for instant backdoor decrypted access to every 1 and every 0, everywhere, and Computer, telecommunications, and Internet companies' resistance toward granting that access, now that they've taken a financial hit in the wake of Mark Klein's,Edward Snowden's, and others' revelations of those companies' earlier complicity in undermining customers' privacy FBI Director James Comey asked this: Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice? Yes.That's right, Director Comey. It is indeed better to have no government at all than one that regularly abuses its position to violate the rights of the people.
Given that the government has taken positions such as:
Any email that's on a third-party server for more than six months is considered "abandoned" and therefore fair game for the government to copy, database, and read without a warrant Communications "metadata"—the time and day, sender, and recipient(s) of a call or message, among other information extraneous to the content of the communication in question (and perhaps even some of the content itself as well)—are always fair game for the government to copy, database, and read without a warrant Any communication that the government considers to have a 50.000001% chance of being from and/or to a foreign person is fair game for the government to copy, database, and read without a warrant Any communication within a number of personal-association "hops" (two? three??) of someone they're investigating is fair game for the government to copy, database, and read without a warrant it is clear they are not abiding by the letter nor by the spirit of this: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.Amendment 4, U.S Constitution
The Constitution is the social contract, the agreement we make with each other to have a government at all. A government that violates that agreement is illegitimate.I understand Director Comey's fear that data vital to a case, possibly even a terrorist's plans, might be locked away encrypted somewhere such that his agency can't reach it without the investigation subject's cooperation. Too bad. That's tough. That's one of the prices we pay for living in a free society.
The society that claims a 100% guarantee of safety and security is one in which the government itself is a 100%-guaranteed danger to everyone. Even President Obama understands this better than Director Comey apparently does, though that's clearly in word, and not in deed. Besides, Director Comey's stated good intentions are not the basis for our liberty. The Constitution, laws, principles, and people—such as journalists and advocates—who actualize accountability are.
Free people must have ways to escape government intrusion. There have to exist avenues for revolution even, always. Otherwise, with official impunity, enter tyranny.