&gt; <i>If the manufacturer&#x27;s ability to sign code is a backdoor, then so is absence of code signing.</i><p>In that universe, you can run any encryption software of you&#x27;re choosing, and verify the software written by others.<p><i>Nobody</i> has more privileges over the device that exceed those of the device&#x27;s owners.<p>&gt; <i>You&#x27;re assigning them the moral failure to perfectly secure the iPhone only because they have tried to secure it at all.</i><p>Legally and ethically, it doesn&#x27;t matter.<p>Legally, cryptography is protected expression, and you can use cryptography to encrypt whatever you like -- including information that would otherwise be subject to a lawful search under the fourth amendment.<p>However, the fourth amendment doesn&#x27;t have a crypto &quot;participation award&quot; clause; if you left a backdoor in place, the government can compel you to use it.<p>Ethically, if they chose to leave themselves this backdoor (and all the others), the system is weak. If it&#x27;s not the FBI today, it&#x27;s the NSA with a NSL tomorrow, or foreign espionage, or a disgruntled employee, or new corporate management.