How Did Governments Lose Control of Encryption?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 March 2016
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The clash between Apple and the FBI is the latest battle in a century-long conflict over the power to keep secrets. The FBI wants Apple to build a “backdoor to the iPhone” so that it can read encrypted data on a locked phone used by one of the San Bernadino attackers.
Apple says such a backdoor would be the equivalent of “a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks”. Creating such a key, Apple says, would “undermine decades of security advancements”. Cryptography was once controlled by the state, which deployed it for military and diplomatic ends. But in the 1970s, long-haired hippy Whitfield Diffie came up with what has been described as the most revolutionary concept in encryption since the Renaissance. Diffie’s invention took the keys away from the state and marked the start of the ‘Crypto Wars’ – the fight for the right of individuals and companies to communicate beyond the gaze of government agencies. The Inquiry tells the compelling story of the ongoing encryption war, taking evidence from expert witnesses including Whitfield Diffie himself. (Photo: Rally support for Apple refusal to help FBI. Credit: EPA Wires)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC World Service, this is Helena Merriman with the inquiry. |
| 0:15.0 | This week how did governments lose control of encryption? |
| 0:20.0 | On the 2nd of December last year, Saeed Faroo K and Tashveen Malick walked into their office Christmas party in California and killed 14 people. |
| 0:40.0 | In the aftermath, investigators found what they thought could be a crucial piece of evidence, an Apple iPhone. |
| 0:42.0 | They hoped to might reveal details about others connected to the attack. |
| 0:46.0 | There was just one problem. |
| 0:48.0 | It was encrypted. |
| 0:50.0 | A four digit passcode stood in their way. |
| 0:53.0 | And they didn't want to use a supercomputer to go through all the possible combinations, |
| 0:57.0 | because after ten wrong guesses, the phone could be wiped. |
| 1:03.0 | In desperation, the FBI turned to Apple, |
| 1:07.0 | asking the company to create a piece of software that would prevent the phone from erasing itself. |
| 1:12.0 | Apple's answer? |
| 1:14.0 | No. |
| 1:15.0 | They said this would create a back door into an iPhone |
| 1:18.0 | that could be exploited by criminals. |
| 1:21.0 | It's an extraordinary criminals. |
| 1:29.0 | It's an extraordinary moment in the history of cryptography, the art of secret codes. The government begging a tech company to help it with decryption. |
| 1:34.0 | So, our question this week, how did governments lose control of encryption? Part 1, the revolution begins. |
| 1:47.0 | The Revolution begins. It's I think a combination of the romance of spying, |
| 1:53.0 | maybe this intrinsic romance. |
| 1:59.0 | It's I think a combination of the Our first expert witness, Whitfield Diffie, talking about his love of cryptography. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.