A federal judge in California ruled this month that the government cannot force Facebook to break the encryption on its popular Messenger voice app in a criminal case in which agents wanted to intercept a suspect’s conversations, according to several individuals familiar with the case.
The decision, which remains under seal, dealt a setback to the Justice Department, which sought to compel Facebook to figure out how to give it access to the encrypted communications.
It is a welcome development, however, for tech firms as they try to fend off government pressure to design their devices and services to accommodate surveillance while they build stronger encryption to safeguard their customers’ privacy.
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