Interesting. Unclear if this is because of a known exploit, or because they know they lack sufficient relevant skills to estimate the likelihood of an exploit, or if they do have the skills to know an exploit is likely even if the specifics are not.
For the record, I moved out of the UK in response to the UK government’s response[1] to the increased encryption that was a response to Snowden’s whistleblowing.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_201...
There should be.
Why are sensors always connected to the machine? They should be physically disabled when not in use. We need physical kill switches for the hardware. It's pointless to obtain access to sensors that don't actually work.
We also need a way to impose complete electronic silence. The phone should not emit anything unless the user wills it. This gets rid of unwanted radiofrequency emissions that can be used to communicate with and track the phone, as well as stuff like ultrasonic tracking beacons.
Desh tu kowltim. Na im pash, na pash im. ("Always two there are; no more, no less.")
Desh o na desh, deting pegunta xiya. Sili mebi mogut ere gova to tili xalte wit peng fong tung tung tung shukumi, o to mebi du kombat wit walowda walowda durating wa wel, unte to du suchok wit imalowda fo imalowda gonya decho. ... -- Hemelet, da bosmang da bik da kong fong denmowk ;)
I'd say the actual reason for this announcement may have been some undisclosed incidents where this actually happened or has been suspected to have happened. We'll never know. But with people having an active microphone permanently on in their pocket, there's very little need for getting people to break into buildings and install some microphones (a plot point in most spy movies in the last century or so).